Jak II The Renegade and the Betrayer
by maddy.rigby
Summary: Maddy is now in Jak II and she has to survive what has happened to her and Jak. She has to defeat the Baron and survive. She knows she will stick with Jak through thick and thin but will that result in her dying? Sequel to Jak and Daxter: More Than One Legacy   NOW COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

**Chapter 0:** The Prologue  
><strong>Music: <strong>I Miss You by Blink-182

"_Hello there, the angel from my nightmare,  
>The shadow in the background of the morgue<br>The unsuspecting victim, of darkness in the valley,  
>We can live like Jack and Sally if you want."<em>

**Mood: **Excited!  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>Writers lie, just like your parents.

You may think bad of me for sitting back and watching the people I love take a rift rider to their doom. How can I just follow everyone I know and watch their life get ruined? I may seem heartless and cruel but there is an answer to that question: I don't have a choice. I have to let them go, and follow them through. The world depends on it.

I could stop them from activating the Rift Rider. Tell them what I know, but how do I know how that will affect the world? Will it make it better or worse? Will the Metal Heads still find a way through?

Do you see my predicament? Do I want to risk everyone dying a horrible death, or take them into a horrible life, where I know they will live?

I see Jak now; he's a carefree, innocent, young boy. But, because of me, in two years, he will be a horrible, spiteful, murderous man. Do you know the worst part? I'm going to love him anyway. I know the old him. I know how he's going to change, and I'll be hell bent on bringing him back to how he was, even if it's an attempt in vain.

Three months ago Jak and I had beaten Gol and Maia's robot. While doing this, I had taken White Eco into my body. It didn't change me physically, but it did emotionally. I had heard a man from the future talking in my head; he told me to let Jak and Kiera and Samos go through the Rift Rider, and to follow them.

Since then, all I've been able to think about is the future. What does it hold for me? Will I still be me? Will I still love Jak? Will he still love me?

So many questions, and none of them have an answer. They have been eating me from the inside out.

"I think I figured out most of this machine. It interacts somehow with that large Precursor Ring I hope we didn't break something bringing it over here," Keira said.

Ahh the Precursor Ring. That's how it all started…

'_Holy Yakow! What could that be?' Samos exclaimed._

'_Wow!' said Kiera, 'It's an ancient Precursor Door! It looks like it will only open if we fill all 100 holes with Power Cells!'_

'_Uhh, we're _heroes _remember?' Daxter said, 'We _have _a hundred Power Cells.'_

'_Do we really?' I asked. _

_And it turns out we did. Between Jak and I, we actually had 101 Power Cells. _

_The Power Cells flew out of the bags containing them, and went straight to the holes in the door._

_As soon as the 101__st__ Power Cell settled in the middle of the door, it opened._

'_Wooooow!' Daxter exclaimed. 'Whaaat is it?'_

'_It's so beautiful…' Kiera said._

'_By the Precursors . . .' Samos trailed off._

'_Oh my . . . Whoa.' I said, at loss for words._

_I felt Jak's awe projecting towards me._

_There was white specks raining all around us, and inside the bright white light was … indescribable. You can see everything, yet nothing at all. I could tell exactly what was going to happen, yet I didn't have a clue. I could see my whole life panned out in front of me, yet I didn't know a thing that was going to happen._

_It was amazing._

Back to the present, I heard Daxter say, 'Easy for you to say! We did all the heavy lifting!'

I laughed, "Daxter, Jak is the only one who lifted it. You just told everyone what to do.'

Daxter just glared at me. I sighed.

I had really made him mad… See, Jak and I had gotten in a sort of fight awhile back, and I was angry afterwards so I snapped at Daxter, and I was a bit harsh about it. I was so angry, though.

_I was sitting on the beach, looking into the mirror Marr gave me, watching my family live out their ordinary lives like I had never been there. I had noticed that whenever they walked by my room, with the painted black door with the words Maddy graffitied on with green spray paint, they would stop for just a second, sadly look at it, and then keep going. Everyone did that. _

_I felt the tears slowly make their way down my face, dripping onto the sand below. Then his hand was on my shoulder. Jak's hand. _

_Any other time, this would have made me feel better, but right now, it didn't. I was just too saddened by watched my family that nothing could comfort me. _

'_Maddy…' I heard Jak in my head. That just reminded me of another frustration I had; Jak and I used to be able to talk to each other in our heads, but somehow the connection got lost, on my side only though. I could send him emotions and feel his, but I couldn't secretly talk to him anymore. _

_I just shook my head, signaling for him to not talk to me. _

_He reached for the mirror to try to take it away, but I snapped my hand out and caught it. I had only been here for four months, but my reflexes and fighting skills had vastly improved. _

_Jak gave it a gentle tug, and said, 'Maddy, it's just making you sad.'_

"_Go away." I said, out loud, of course. I knew I was going to feel really bad about this later, but I didn't care then._

_'I'm not just going to leave you like this, Maddy.' Jak replied unwaveringly. _

_"Jak, please. I need some alone time."_

_'I know you need some alone time, but I'm not just going to sit by and let you hurt yourself over nothing.' He said. Then he tried a different tactic; changing the subject 'Where did you get that mirror anyway?' _

_"Someone gave it to me." I replied. _

_'Who?' He questioned._

_"Someone." he couldn't seem to get it in his head that I really wanted to be left alone right now. _

_'Why are you watching it if it just hurts you?'_

_"Because, Jak, I want to go home. I want to see my friends. I want to paint. I want to stroke my animals. I want to just go home." I cried, tears falling down my face even harder now._

_'Oh, Maddy. I know how that feels. I know what it is like to want something you know you can't have. Do you know how long I've wanted to be able to talk? Since I could understand that people can talk. I've always wondered what's wrong with me. Why can't I talk like everyone else? I've always wanted to be able to talk. I've always wanted something that I know is impossible. It's the same.'_

_And then I blew up, 'No, Jak, it's not the same. You weren't separated from people you love, forced away from everyone you grew up with. You didn't have to leave your whole life behind to live another one where every day you may die. You didn't have to leave everything you've ever owned just to be dumped into an alternate reality." I fumed. "It's not the same."_

'_It is, Maddy. Why can't you just accept what you have to live with? I did!' Jak yelled at me._

'_Because I had a good life first, no matter how badly I was treated by my parents, I had a _SAFE _life. I knew I would be alive the next day. I knew I would get to go to school and see my friends!' I yelled back._

'_You got forced here unwillingly, and I know that, but you don't have to be all whiny about it! How many times do you hear me complain about not being able to talk?'_

'_You _can't _talk!' I yelled back._

'_But if I could, I wouldn't. You know that. You know _me. _I wouldn't do that.'_

'_But do I, Jak? Do I really know you? I don't know a single thing about your past, and you don't know mine. Hell, I don't even know your last name. Jak. I've known you for 3 months so far, and I don't know anything about you besides your name." The tears were streaming down my face even faster now._

'_Marr. Jak Marr.' I heard quietly in my head._

'_Whatever.' _

_With that I got up and walked away. I felt horrible about this; it was our first fight. Ever._

_I walked towards the hut, planning on sulking in my room._

_Then I heard Daxter talking to someone, or maybe just out loud, I didn't care. I just needed to let off some steam. 'I should have taken the White Eco. This fuzzy body is horrible.'_

_I walked in, still in a bad mood, and said, 'Wow, Daxter. So brave of you. You are wishing you had turned back into a human, causing the world to end, or better, turn into a world full of Dark Eco.' I said sarcastically before walking away. 'I thought better of you than that . . . I guess I was wrong.'_

_Walking down the hall to my room, I ran into Kiera. She said, 'You know, Maddy, that was really un-called for.' _

_I just pushed past her, not wanting to deal with Kiera's crap right now. She was still jealous of me being with Jak, and it was really bothersome._

Thinking of the devil and the devil shall appear... "Look, she doesn't even have the decency to listen when we're talking to her." Kiera said, bringing me back to reality.

"Sorry…" I shook my head to clear it. "What were you saying?"

She glared at me before turning to her father and saying, "If we're going to do it, we should do it today."

I was shocked. I didn't know we had such a limited amount of time. I glanced around and saw Jak looking at me with a worried look on his face. I shook my head, almost imperceptibly.

"Well," Came Samos's gruff voice, "if we're going to do it, let's do it now. Everything's there, everyone's here.

Ten minutes later we were all sitting in the Rift Rider, me clutching Jak's hand desperately. I was definitely second-guessing my choice to not tell them.

"Well, everyone. It's been fun." Was all Samos said before leaning over to press the big red button on the right arm of the Rider…

This was it… The big moment.

Samos's hand came down on the button, and . . . nothing happened. A faint click resonated in the silence around the five of us.

"Maybe a channeler needs to push it to get it working." Daxter said.

I was thinking the same thing, but my eyes were filled with unshed tears, and I don't think I'd be able to talk without them falling. I didn't want them to know, and I seriously had to fight myself to not tell them to stay and not press that button. I didn't even know if anyone would believe me, but I wasn't going to find out.

Jak looked at me, silently asking me if I wanted to be the one to do it, but I shook my head no, and he leaned over to press it, taking a deep breath before he pressed it.

And then I realized something; I didn't want them to die. I couldn't just let them. Screw what Marr said, I wasn't letting everyone I loved die a horrible death, or be changed forever. Altered to no return.

"NO!" I yelled, but no one heard me over the roar of the engine coming to life. Jak had already pressed the button. It was too late. I slumped down in defeat.

I jerked back up as a horrible crunching sound resonated through the air, and what I knew to be the Metal Head leader stuck its head out of the Rift, "Finally!" It yelled, in a voice that reverberated throughout my whole body, "The last Rift Gate has opened!" At that, Metal Heads started flooding into our world, and we were pulled into the Gate with a horrible lurch.

**A/N **_Okay, so this is the prologue to my sequel story to Jak and Daxter: More Than One Legacy. It's based off Jak II the Renagade, so, on with the story!_

**xMonster**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: **Prison Break!  
><strong>Music:<strong> Polly by Nirvana

"_Polly says her back hurts,  
>She's just as bored as me,<br>She caught me off my guard,  
>Amazes me the will of instinct"<em>

**Mood:** Bored…  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>Writers lie, just like your parents.

We were shot into a purple warp pit, and I was terrified. I was scared of what was behind us, and I was scared of what was in front of us.

Suddenly, the Rift Rider started to shake, and a bolt of blue light hit it, and it exploded. We were all launched in different directions, and I screamed. I felt a hand grab mine and looked up to see Jak looking at me.

I took a deep shuddering breath – which didn't feel too good in a warp tunnel - I may add – and looked around. Kiera and Samos weren't with us. Turning my head around, I saw them both branching off into a different tunnel.

"Maddy, Jak! Find yourselves!" I faintly heard Samos say as I watched in horror as the two disappeared.

I felt a subtle tug on my hand – Jak pulling me back - and realized I had been drifting off. The tunnel had been pulling me in a different direction. Then there was a tug in my navel pulling me to the right of the direction Jak and Daxter were going in. It got stronger, becoming almost unbearable to the point of pain. Jak seemed to realize what was happening and started pulling my hand harder, but it was slipping.

The pain in my navel had become excruciatingly strong, and I was debating on letting go of Jak's hand just to rid of it. Jak jerked my hand in his direction. I screeched, a sound lost the the tunnel. The pain was so intense I thought I was going to pass out. He gave me an apologetic look and yanked my hand again. The pain got worse, for a second. And then it was gone.

A let out a deep relieved sigh, but I had nothing to be sighing about.

We were about to go through the warp hole that would pull us into a different time. Suddenly, Jak pulled me so that I was in front of him with his back to the warp gate. I wondered what he was doing then I realized that he was shielding me – from what I don't know.

Then we landed on concrete and Jak's body took the brunt of the fall, and I heard him let out a light gasp.

I looked around in awe at the city we were now in; Haven City. It looked impressive but I knew just how badly it was run.

"Okay, I swear that's the last time I ever, EVER, touch any stupid Precursor crap!" Daxter said before I tuned him out. I looked at Jak and he seriously looked hurt. He took all that pain for me.

I heard approaching footsteps, but I ignored it, intent on Jak

I pulled Jak to his feet, ignoring whatever Daxter was saying. It could wait. I knew what to do, so I put my hand on Jak's chest and channeled Green Eco into his body. He had a green glow for a second, and then it was gone. This whole storing Eco thing was really nice.

I looked up, I had a feeling I was being watched. We were surrounded by soldiers dressed in red – Crimzon Guard – and Erol. I realized I should have listened to Daxter. I had been hoping to escape without them knowing I was a channeler, but by the way that they were looking at me, they had seen it.

"There's two of them. The Baron will be happy. Move in." Erol ordered. The KG stepped closer, packing the circle around us tighter.

"Step away from the animal!" One of the soldiers said. Daxter screamed and ran through Jak's legs and away from everything that was happening.

"Forget the rat!" Erol yelled, "The Baron wants him. And I'm sure he wants her." He leered at me and I shuddered.

Two soldiers brought their guns up, and before I could realize what they were doing they had smacked us both in the head. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Jak falling next to me, his blue eyes closing. I knew then that that was going to be the last time I would ever see those eyes. My own eye lids fluttered closed, but not before I heard Daxter yell, "Don't worry! I'll save you two before you know it!"

_Two Years Later _

Jak and I were once again on the two torturing devices and being injected with Eco. It was a pain beyond all pain, and it happened every day.

I had been right when I had thought I didn't want them to know I was a channeler. Ever since then they had been dragging us into this torture room and strapping us on to these devices and injecting us with so much Eco that our bodies couldn't take it.

You would think that Eco wouldn't hurt a body but when it's injected into your body continually – not just in small doses – it hurts. A lot.

Jak's cries of pain still gave me nightmares. The first night here was the worst. I had no idea what was going to happen. They had us strapped to these machines, and I knew what they were going to do to Jak, and I was assuming that they were going to inject me with Dark Eco also, but I was wrong. I wish I had been right**.**

At first they injected me with Blue Eco. I remember almost laughing at how stupid it was. Didn't they know I was a channeler? I could take in vast amounts of Eco.

That was before the burning began. After incessantly injecting the Eco into my body, I was fully charged with Blue Eco. That's about when you would step out of Blue Eco, right? No, they kept pumping it into my body for hours, and I couldn't take it. I was screaming my head off. It felt like the Blue Eco was eating away my insides, burning away everything it touched.

Then it stopped.

I could hear Jak's screams reverberating throughout the room, so I correctly assumed that they weren't done with me yet. I couldn't get the sound of Jak screaming out of my head. It was a horrible sound. It was completely animalistic, and full of pain. He sounded like he was dying. Over and over. It was a sound I would never forget.

They had given me a few seconds to relax before the Yellow Eco started. If I had thought that Blue was bad, I was very incorrect.

The Yellow Eco was more of a shock then a burn. Like lightning was zapping all over my body. Like I was being struck by lightning over and over. It was completely and utterly unbearable.

I was thrashing at the binding holding me down, but I couldn't move my head. It seemed that the device was focused on my head, but the rest of my body was getting it equally as bad.

I was completely convinced that if I looked down my body would be a pile of blackened ash.

This whole process went on with Red and Green Eco. Red had been like pulling at every limb I had, stretching me, peeling the muscles from my bones. They did Green last, and I was hoping it would not be as painful. I was wrong, again. It was like I was being stabbed over with tiny pins. It wasn't as much painful as it was uncomfortable. Then they took it up a notch. The pins turned into spikes, and I was positive that if I wasn't ash I would be full of holes.

I remember thinking I would be human Swiss cheese. I thought I was going insane.

I thought they were done. They weren't.

They started injecting me with all four Ecos at once, and I was thrashing so much that I broke the straps holding my head down. I looked at Jak first, and saw his face scrunched up in pain, and a purple aura around his body. Dark Eco. I was filled with so much worry for Jak right then that I completely forgot about the pain. My screams quieted and my thrashing stopped.

Then, Jak let out a scream and started thrashing about like I had been. It was completely horrifying to watch and I ashamedly turned my head to the left.

Baron and Erol seemed to take my silence as a confirmation that they weren't putting enough Eco in me, and they doubled it. I felt the pain twofold and screeched again, my body arching of the stone table high into the air.

That was a horrible experience that I would never want to live out again. Even though the pain was still the same now, maybe even worse, it wasn't as bad as the first night. I still couldn't not scream, or not move; I knew that this gave Erol immense satisfaction.

Once or twice when the pain had become minimal enough to think I had seen Erol looking at me, staring at my body as it arched up, my shirt riding up. It was disgusting.

Then I heard a computerized voice say, "Eco injection cycle complete. Bio readings nominal and unchanged"

"Hhhppp. Nothing! I was informed that this one might be different!" Praxis yelled. I had really come to hate this man.

"They are both surp-" I heard before I blacked out. The pain was unbearable.

It wasn't really a black out, it was more like drifting in and out of consciousness. I heard different snippets of conversation from the two men. I didn't know if Jak was awake or not.

I heard, "-Program has failed."

"-Be dead with all the Eco-"

"- Metal Head Armies are-"

"-Finish these '_things' _off tonight." That was about when I came back into full consciousness. I let my eye lids open just a tiny bit. Just enough for me to see what was going on, but not for them to know I was awake.

"As you wish," I heard Erol say. I minutely turned my head and saw Erol lean towards Jak, "I'll be back later." I saw Jak's eye lids open and close, so I knew that he was awake.

The two started walking away, and just as soon as they were out of hearing range, I heard a voice that I hadn't heard in two years say, "Ding, ding... Third floor... Body chains, roach food, torture devices."

If I had had the strength I would have screamed in joy. As I was in my present condition, I couldn't even squeak.

Daxter jumped onto Jak, and said, "Hey buddy! Seen any heroes around here?" He looked around and saw me, and then looked at Jak. "WHOA! What'd they do to you two?" He looks around and then jumps towards me. He landed squarely on my chest, and the small amount of pressure was enough for me to have to close my eyes, which had barely been open anyway. "Maddy. It's me, Daxter." He whined.

I let my eyelids open a little bit, but I flinched when I noticed how close he was. It was surprising.

He jumped over to Jak, "Jak! It's me. Come on." Jak's eyes fluttered open. He looked at Daxter for a second, and then closed his eyes again.

"Well that's a fine hello. I've been crawling around in this place, risking my tail – literally," he held up his tail. Just then, he jumped off of Jak and onto me. I noticed that when he jumped Jak flinched. It seems he was in as much pain as me. I hadn't actually talked to Jak in the two years we had been here. We had both been put into separate cells and dragged in and out of this horrific room at different times.

"Maddy! You can talk! Come on!" He jumped off of me; using my stomach as a spring, and Precursors did it hurt. "Jak! Please, talk. Just this once." Daxter said desperately. "Maddy, Jak, please say something!"

"I'm going to _kill _Praxis." Jak and I both said it at the same time.

"Shhhhhh!" Daxter said, covering Jak's mouth. "Right now we gotta get you two out of here!" Then I felt it coming. The Power Surges that came along with being in the program. It was immense evil building in me, and to let it out - I let a monster out. So far they had prevented these from happening but there was no one to stop me now. I was thrilled but scared.

My breathing became heavier, and I felt Daxter jump over to my chair, "Just let me figure out how to open the security locks to your chairs… soo" he was cut off by my snarl and Jak's growl. This was _not _going to turn out well.

I saw sparks of coloured Eco shoot off of me and I saw Jak with Dark Eco surrounding him He was a truly scary sight, he had paled considerably, and his dark blond hair had turned gray. His eyes had turned all black, and his nails turned into long black claws. There was Dark Eco shooting off of him. If that's what he looked like, I couldn't even begin to imagine what I looked like.

I lost all conscious thought then, just letting the monster in me takeover.

"Or, Ahhh, you two could do it." Who is this? Why is he here? "Jak?" The little orange rodent asked, "Maddy?" How does he know my name? Who is he? "Easy guys. Easy. It's your old pal, Daxter, remember?" The name rang a bell, but I still didn't know who it was.

I snarled and the man next to me growled. I should be scared of him, but I can tell he's on my side. He has no idea who this rodent is either. He, like me, has one command- to kill.

'Daxter' started backing up like he was scared. I came to a halt in my advances, noticing that Jak did, too. Wait, Jak… Who's Jak? Memories assaulted me, we were sitting on the roof of a hutt, we were fighting snakes, riding a Zoomer, fighting a monster, taking a ride through the Warp Gate.

I felt all the Eco drain from me, all the evil leave, and I was me again. I was Maddy.

I gasped. I had almost hurt Daxter. What had come over me? I hung my head in shame, letting my dull, matted hair hang in front of my face.

"Daxter?" Jak questioned, and I watched the evil leave from him. Daxter, noticing I was looking at Jak tore his eyes away from my now normal ones to looks at his buddy. Jak's claws retracted in, his skin gained colour – as did his hair – and his eyes returned to normal. Well, not normal. His eyes will never be the same again. His eyes now were a deep indigo, full of hate and spite. I wondered briefly what my eyes looked like

"What the _heck _was that? Sheesh. Remind me not to piss you two off." He paused and looked both of us over. I could only imagine what the two of us must look like. "Come one tall, dark, and gruesome, and uhh . . . short, dark, and gruesome. Let's get out of here.

**A/N: **_Hullo, here's chapter one :D Enjoy, and let me hear your thoughts, lovelies._

**xMonster**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: **Protector of the Old and the Young

**Music:** Escape From the Prison Planet by Clutch

"_Get out! Eject! Escape from the prison planet!__  
><em>_Get out! Eject! Escape from the prison planet!"_  
>(sorry couldn't think of anything better :P)<p>

**Mood:** Apathetic  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

Yes! We were free! After Daxter had found us we made our prison break, dodging Krimzon Guards, and fighting our way through the prison until we came to a window and jumped out. I had landed with much more grace than I used to be able to. The vast amounts of Eco had matured me in many ways, changing my mind and body. They were both much older than they should have been.

'_Hi!' _A voice said in my head. I looked around, shocked. Then I noticed little Jak, he was looking up at me with innocent blue eyes.

'_Hi?' _I said questioningly.

'_You can hear me?' _His voice was so innocent, so helpless.

I nodded, remembering how Jak and I used to talk. I missed that now. It had made me feel special. Like I had a connection with him.

That was gone now.

'_I've never talked to anyone before.'_

'_He used to not be able to.' _I said, gesturing to Jak. _'But he went through bad experiments, and now he can…" _

'_Oh.' _He said.

Then I noticed that Kor was talking "Hello strangers. My name is Kor. May I help-"He was cut off by Jak.

"You look like a reasonably smart man. I want information! Where the Hell are we?" Charming.

"Ahhhh. Sorry! He's new to the whole conversation thing." If the situation hadn't been so severe I would have laughed. Jak and I were now wanted criminals.

Kor seemed to take no offense and said, "Well, my angry young friend, you are a 'guest' of his 'majesty' Baron Praxis, the ruler of 'glorious' Haven city." I could hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

I cut in, "Yeah. We were just guests in the good Baron's prison." I flinched at how harsh my voice was. Then it dawned on me; Jak wasn't the only one who had changed. I had too. I didn't know if it was for good or bad, though.

"Inside a cell or inside the city . . . walls surround us both. We are all his prisoners." Kor responded in a harsh whisper.

All of a sudden I heard the sound of heavy footsteps. Why could I hear it so clearly? I reached up, and felt my ears. They were long. Like Jak's old ears. For some reason, this didn't surprise me. It did make me sad though. I had lost another thing that was making me human. I don't know how I hadn't noticed that before.

Now that I think about it everything sounded clearer, and I could feel the slight bit of extra weight on top of my head from the added length of the ears.

"Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Kor said. "I'd move on if I were you."

I looked up and noticed a pack of Krimzon Guard heading straight for us.

Then the lead KG said, "By order of his eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis, everyone in this section is hereby under arrest for suspicion of harboring underground fugitives. Surrender and die!" Wait… surrender _AND _die?

"Aaah, excuse me sir, don't you mean surrender, OR die!" Daxter said, voicing my thoughts.

"Not in this city! Protect us from these guards and I'll introduce you to someone who can help you." Kor said.

I didn't know how we were going to fight them. I'm sure my fighting skills had dimmed since I'd been in a cell for two years. Even if they hadn't, the KG had guns. We couldn't fight guns with bare hands.

I looked over at Jak and noticed that his eyes were darkening and his skin was paling. Suddenly, he snarled and his eyes blackened. His fingernails lengthened into claws and his hair was grey. He was really scary. He looked completely evil.

Then I felt it coming onto me. I felt the Power Surge, and I knew I was going to change again. Then there was a sudden burning through my body, I felt my skin bubbling, changing. I looked down and noticed my skin, too, was deathly white. My wavy hair had darkened to black; I could see it hanging around my waist, where it hadn't been cut in two years. I felt my eyes changing, as I had before with the yellow eco, but I didn't know what colour.

Then the monster in me took over. I didn't know who I was, or where I was. I only knew that Jak was beside me, killing Krimzon Guard, shooting Dark Eco. I was taking out KG left and right. I was shooting out Eco from my palms, and smacking the KG. Using my Blue Eco stores to run fast, dodge bullets, and hit the KG before they could get me. Jak and I were a good team, evil or not. Soon, they were all gone. We had taken out what felt like hundreds of KG together, both of us beyond the point of evil.

My consciousness was slowly coming back, but I could tell I wasn't me. I was Dark Maddy, fighting alongside Dark Jak.

I looked around and noticed little Jak again. He was looking at me in complete fear. Like I terrified him. _He _was scared of _me. _

Who was I?

'_I'm sorry…' _

He didn't answer, he just ran behind Kor's legs.

I glanced to the ground near my feet, waiting for the evil spell to lift. It was there that I noticed a puddle, and I could see someone's reflection. They looked truly gruesome, with black eyes to match their long black hair.

I shivered and looked around. There was no one else near me. Who was this? Then it dawned on me; it was me. Me. I was a monster. For trues and for real.

Her black hair – I couldn't stand to say mine – was sticking up around her, as if by static. She had a frightening look on her face, teeth bared and black eyes focused intently. You could see your own soul through those eyes, and she could see yours. Her skin was a deathly white, and her fingernails were long, black, razor-sharp claws.

She had a wild look on her face, and you could tell just by looking at her that she was ready to kill anyone and anything that got in her way.

Her way. My way. I was a killer. No, that wasn't me. That was the result of experiments done to her – me.

But I was a killer. I had almost killed Daxter earlier. I had just killed hundreds of police with guns pointed at us. I was a wanted criminal. Who knew what else I did while I was with Erol. I started hyperventilating. That was me. That is me. What am I? What kind of monster am I? How many people have I killed? How many more will I?

Then it started to go away. My eyes were transfixed on the image in front of me with horror. I couldn't take my eyes off the puddle. I noticed her hair was slowly lowering itself, and turning to a more brownish colour. The fingernails that had so recently been black claws were retracting inwards until they were just fingernails again. Her eyes slightly dimmed in colour, but it didn't go away all the way. My eyes before had been a light gray with a black ring and now they were a very dark grey, almost black. It was scary.

That got me thinking about Jak. His eyes used to be a light, innocent blue, but now they were a dark, sinister indigo.

That was cool! Do it again!" Daxter said, pulling my head from the clouds.

"Something's happening to me… something he did… I can't control it!" Jak said. "Maddy?" He asked, breathing heavily. I just nodded my head, hoping he would get what I meant. I was still too shaken from my realization to care much.

"Very impressive, you two." Kor said.

I growled unthinkingly. I had just remembered what Kor really was. Why was he being so nice?

"Eh, you ok Maddy?" I just nodded again.

"What you just did was very brave," Kor said. "This child is important." Jak and Daxter didn't know how important that kid was. I knew. I knew that that was little Jak. Jak didn't know he was looking at himself.

"This kid?" Daxter asked. "He looks kinda scruffy." He said, running his paw over Little Jak's head. They were about the same height, it was kind of amusing.

Then, a guard flew over our heads, ushering us along, "You are in a restricted zone. Move along." He said before driving away.

"Thank you for your help," He said, nodding to Jak and me. "But I must get this boy to safety."

"Hey!" Daxter protested, "What about us?"

"There is an underground group raging war against Baron Praxis. Its leader, the Shadow, could use fighters like you! Go to the slums. Find a dead-end alley near the city wall. Ask for Torn. He can help you." Kor said before hurrying away.

I looked around, and I had no clue where we were. Even with my vast amounts of knowledge of the game, I hadn't memorized the map of Haven City. It was one thing I hadn't thought I would ever need, having the mini map and all.

"Wait," Kor said, turning around. "Take this! You might need it!" He flipped a small pod into my hand, and when I pressed the button, a holographic map of Haven City popped up, highlighting the entrance to the Underground.

"Thanks!" I yelled, speaking for the first time since being free – well as free as you can get in Haven City.

"How are we going to get there?" Jak asked.

I looked around not sure if I could really do it… ahh whatever – we were wanted criminals now. I waited until a small Zoomer was above my head, and jumped upwards, catching onto the door of the car. I gently shoved the driver out, feeling bad, but we needed it more.

I looked down. "Well, hurry up then."

Jak shrugged and grabbed Daxter and put him on his shoulder before waiting for a Zoomer and grabbing it.

**A/N: **_Bit of a filler, mundane stuff, we're getting to the interesting stuff soon, promise._

**xMonster**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:** Stealing the Baron's Banner  
><strong>Music:<strong> Pretty Handsome Awkward by The Used

"_Your market value, your resurrection,  
>you shallow concept, I hope you choke I hope you die,<br>I know you meant it, nice fucking disguise (so hollow)_

_Hey, are you okay?  
>You look pretty low<br>Very handsome awkward."_

**Mood:** Coffee Craving! ^.^  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents

Jumping off the Zoomer and putting away the map, we started walking towards the door to the Underground. We were stopped by a bubble gum blonde with a stern face. Her hair was short and spiky with a headband.

To the right, leaning against a wall with one leg bent and her foot against the wall was a short-ish -she was about an inch shorter than the blonde – murky blonde haired girl. She had curly ringlet-ish hair that fell about to her mid back. She had pale skin and some slight fading freckles on her cheeks. Her penetrating green eyes were searching mine for answers, and when I looked closely I could see a slight gold ring surrounding her pupils.

She didn't look half as menacing as the other two people here, though she kept a straight face; she seemed like she was trying to be tough, to fit in. a fake mask. I didn't remember her, but hey, I hadn't played the game in so long, I couldn't even remember the other girl's name at the moment, though I was searching my brain for it, anyways, I probably forgot the girl. I didn't really remember that much from this game except the main points. I still felt like something was off though... I was almost sure she wasn't there before.

"We're looking for a guy named Torn." Jak said harshly.

"Kor sent us," I added helpfully.

I looked to the left and noticed Torn walking towards us. I nudged Jak and he turned and saw him, too.

"Are you . . . Torn?" Jak asked hesitantly. When he didn't answer Daxter jumped up on Jaks shoulder and stuck his face in Torn's.

"Maybe he's a mute like you used to be."

Torn started walking around us, looking us over, "New faces make me nervous. Word is you're out to join the fight for the city. You know, picking the wrong side could be... unhealthy." He said, sticking his face in mine. I forced myself to not flinch.

"We want to see the Shadow." Jak and I chorused together.

"Cute." The blonde said sarcastically… Tess. That was her name. Tess.

"Huh, huh, huh," Torn laughed. "Not likely. If you want to join something, why don't you two and your pet go join the circus?" He paused again to laugh at his own joke, and glanced to the side at the green-eyed girl so fast if I blinked I would have missed it. I glanced over to see her glaring at him slightly, arms crossed. "Heh. Unless you got the fur for a really tough task?" He asked, trying to ignore what the girl was doing, and looking at Daxter pointedly.

He reached behind his back and pulled out a short crescent blade, twirling it around his fingers. That made me nervous. "Steal the Baron's banner from the top of the Ruined Tower and bring it back to me. Then maybe we'll talk." When he finished his sentence, he spun it in the air, and caught it perfectly. I resisted the urge to open mouthedly stare at his obvious skill.

I turned around and saw the other girl. She started walking towards us, and I hesitantly walked over to her too. Jak followed me; we weren't used to leaving each other. It was a habit to protect one another. It was nice to know he had my back.

"He's not really that bad. You just have to get past his shell. He's actually really sweet. It really is just a new faces thing, he is a bit...cautious. But then again, I guess we all are in times like these, right?" She had a soft look in her eyes when talking about Torn, though I was still bewildered by her presence; she wasn't in the game before. I was sure of that now. If there was a new girl, how many more things had changed? Would my knowledge of the game be no help at all?

I nodded in understanding, and grabbed Jak's hand, pulling him in the opposite direction of the girl. "I'm Katie by the way!" She yelled after me.

"Maddy," I yelled in response, just before we left I saw her scowling at Torn, to which he replied something about ' being too nice', 'giving her name out to random people' and 'why he even tries'.

I ignored their little dispute and dropped Jak's hand and hopped onto a Zoomer and took off, knowing Jak would follow me.

Katie being in the game was really confusing me. I remembered Tess, and I remembered Torn. I didn't remember a Katie. At all.

I took out the pocket map and activated it, making sure we were going in the right direction of Dead Town. When I was sure that we were there, I hopped off, letting the Zoomer crash into a wall and explode.

Jak and Daxter caught up with me seconds later, and got off their Zoomer, letting it glide to the ground. Once Jak was near me, I grabbed his hand again. I had missed this. Ever since we had escaped, Jak and I had barely touched. When I had taken his hand back near Katie, I had remembered all the good things about Jak. All the things that I was sure were still buried in him. I just had to be the one to dig it up. I know that becoming a man who was always angry was inevitable for him, but maybe I could help him be a little happier.

I paused. But what if I turn into an angry person, too? Sometimes when I thought about it, I really was angry. I was angry at Praxis for turning me into a monster, I was angry at Marr for telling me to let them go through the Warp Gate. I was angry at the world for having my fate be the one it is. Sometimes I just wanted to yell, scream out loud to the world. Sometimes I just wanted to let the monster inside me out to let the rage building in me run its course.

I felt Jak kiss the top of my head, and pull me in the direction of the door.

It was then that I realized that that was the most intimate contact we've had in two years. Jak wasn't Jak anymore, and –though I hate to say it, - I wasn't me anymore. We had to start our relationship over from scratch again. I didn't know what was worse, that I was so ignorant about us changing before, or that I was still partially in denial that he wasn't the same care free boy from Sandover.

Truth is, we were two new people. We might as well have just met, because as we are, we were complete strangers with distant memories of past lives.

The door to Dead Town opened, and I gasped at the sight. It was so horrible, and there was a putrid scent in the air. It really was like a dead town. I looked out a noticed all the monsters around the town itself.

I didn't really remember how to fight very well when I wasn't the evil version of me,and there was two rat monsters scampering at the ground in front of us, ready to attack. I hesitantly kicked it, and it went flying. Strength – increased.

I ran ahead, hitting another monster, this time a large orange weasel-like thing. I found myself having to dodge its tongue before I was able to hit it. Speed – increased.

When I was running around, taking out monsters, I realized how free I felt. I looked around and noticed Jak doing the same thing, kicking and punching the swarming monsters.

We were only on the third island, and were about to climb some crumbling steps. Before running up them after Jak, I hesitantly dipped the toe of my shoe in the muck, just to see what would happen. I quickly withdrew it when it started to sizzle. I ran up the steps after a now laughing Jak. "Oh Shush!" I  
>quipped. "Better be safe than sorry!" I laughed.<br>We were quickly approaching the bottom of the Ruined Tower, and I could see the banner at the top.

...We had to climb that?

I took out one more monster, and then ran to the bridge that would lead to the tower. It was a bridge with a deep slope downwards, and you could practically slide down it. It was really long, too. Jak ran across it before me, and it started to crumble while he was halfway across it. Now Jak was on one side and I was stranded on another great… and I couldn't even jump safely because it was a long way and the dangerous liquid at the bottom was not something I wanted to land in.

"Maddy, you're going to have to jump!" Jak yelled up towards me.

"But, I'll fall!"

"I'll catch you!"

"But what if you don't?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course!" I yelled without thinking. But did I? Did I really trust this new Jak? I did to a point, but I didn't trust Jak with my life anymore. It was a sad realization, and I hoped that we would get back to that level of trust again.

"Then jump!" I took a deep breath, and ran forward, throwing myself over the edge before I could chicken out. I was flying through the air . . . and then I landed . . . in Jak's arms. He was right. He would catch me. He caught me.

"Told you so," He quietly said in my ear, making me shiver. "Now let's go."

I was still caught up in my revelation as we climbed the tower together. I still loved Jak. I had been so afraid that since Jak and I were two completely new people, we wouldn't love each other. But I still loved him, even though I knew what he had turned into. He couldn't help it. It wasn't his fault he was evil. Besides, hating him because he turned into a monster would be very hypocritical of me, seeing as I was one, too. Maybe we can be monsters together.

I was distracted by the thoughts in my head, and I didn't notice that the steps below our feet were starting to crumble. I was just jumping, flying through the air on instinct. But, I was too preoccupied by my thoughts to notice that the step I was jumping to was about to crumble and, obviously couldn't hold anymore weight.

If I had had my head on straight, I would have jumped to the step after it that was in easy jumping distance. The second my foot hit the ground of the step, it groaned under my weight and collapsed. And once again, I was falling. But this time, there wasn't a platform under me. There was just solid dirt 50 feet down, and I was plunging towards it.

But, just in time, a hand caught mine, and I was precariously hanging in mid-air by Jak's hand. He started to pull me back up onto one of the few stable platforms. When I was on steady feet, he pulled me into a hug. "Jeez, Maddy!" Daxter said, jumping on my head – the only part of me not consumed by Jak. "You really are a danger magnet!" He huffed.

"Yeah…" I trailed off. I couldn't stop looking at Jak, and when he turned his face and saw me looking, he gazed back with equal intensity. "I'm sorry…" I pushed my face into Jak's chest again, inhaling his scent. He smelled really nice, like the ocean and sandalwood and smoke and vanilla. It was comforting.

"Well, come on then, let's go!" Daxter said before hopping to the next platform, not bothering to look to see if we were coming.

"I still love you, Jak. I really do. I don't know what I would do without you."

He kept looking at me, and for one second, I thought he wasn't going to say it back. But then, he grabbed my hand and said, "Maddy, I love you so much it scares me." Before pulling me up on his back and jumping up the next few steps. "I'm not going to risk you getting hurt again."

He did have to put me down when we came to the bars protruding from the building, and we each had to do it separately. I refused to get on his back again, and after a few seconds, we continued our trek up the sides of the building.

When we finally reached the top of the building, I felt extremely accomplished. We had technically just completed our first mission. The Banner gave off a faint glow, and Jak and I walked towards it together. We put our hands on it, looked at each other, nodded, and tugged upward. Jak was a lot stronger than I was, so the force in which it came up was strong enough to knock me backwards. I looked at Jak's grinning face before getting up and sticking my tongue out at him. He raised the Banner high in the air and forcefully struck the top of the tower with it.

The Ruined Tower groaned before it started to fall.

Uh oh.

_**In another location. From third person point of view.**_

Katie was sitting on top of the table where all the maps were, legs dangling below, her hands in her lap. Torn was standing in front of her, leaning towards her, his hands gently stroking her hair.

"Torn, I have to go see if they are okay, you can't go sending people out on death missions as soon as you meet them." Katie protested.

"Relax, they will be fine." He replied, seemingly trying to lean closer, but she leaned back slightly when he did so.

Katie shook her head. "That's what you always say, and then they never come back. You know how hard it is to climb that thing. I haven't ever seen you do that," She poked a finger at his chest. "Not to mention the water is deadly and the buildings are all falling down. They are going to crumble by the time they even step on them." She said, getting slightly upset.

"Would you relax, we can't go letting every stranger we meet in until we know they are strong enough. You should know that being nice at times like these isn't going to get us anywhere. Hell, they both don't look like they're over 17, maybe 18 for him." He replied, seeming annoyed, but keeping his position the same.

"But there's something about those two… I feel like they're special in some way." Katie pondered.

"But they're not. Those two are just going to cause more trouble!"

"Isn't that what you want?" Katie asked slyly.

"Not from those two. I see nothing but bad coming from letting them in. We don't even know how strong they are, and if they can't climb the Ruined Tower there not going to be able to survive here." He gestured around his head, meaning the city.

"That's not true, and you should know that. Those two have power, and you can tell as well as I can." She paused. "You know, you are a nice person, but why do you try to hide your feelings at everything? What the hell was Erol teaching you in that loony bin?" She said, and he tensed at the mention of his past and looked away from her, drifting off.

She laid a hand slightly on his cheek and his attention snapped back to her. "In a little while, we have to go down there and see if we can save them or not.

He huffed and said "fine." Before leaning in and kissing Katie. It was the kind of kiss where you could tell how the two felt about each other. You could visibly see Katie shiver, and you could hear Torn growl. The kiss quickly got heated, with Katie lacing her hands into his hair, and Torn wrapping his long arms around her waist.

_**Back to Maddy, Jak, and Daxter. Maddy's POV**_

We had to get down that tower, and fast. And I mean _fast. _The Ruined Tower was crumbling at our feet, and we had no choice but to jump. But, before we could, the ground gave way at our feet, and we started falling.

Luckily, we landed on a springy overhand, and I gracefully bounced off of it. I heard Daxter fall on it, and bounce off with a pained, "Umph!" Jak landed on a metal line – Maybe a electricity line of some sort, I didn't know if Haven City used those or not- and started skidding on it, I landed behind him, momentarily losing my footing before regaining it, and zip-lining down it after Jak, throwing sparks out from under me.

I saw where Jak landed, and timed my landing to where I would land next to him, I touched ground seconds after Jak in a sort of graceful catlike crouch. The power of Jak and my stance was ruined by Daxter falling, very ungracefully, behind us, puffing up a cloud of dirt.

I straightened my crouch and turned around. The Tower was falling down, leaning over and caving inwards until it was just a pile of crumbled bricks.

I looked at Torn's awe-struck face, and smirked darkly when he said, "Yeah… I guess you guys are in."

Katie squeaked, "I knew it! I told you so, Torn!" I looked over at her, and noticed she was running in my direction. She pulled me into a tight hug, and I froze. I wasn't used to hugs from anybody that Jak. Hell I wasn't used to physical contact from anyone but Jak. I remained frozen until she let go. Her face fell when she saw mine, and I had an inkling to feel bad, but I didn't trust strangers anymore. I didn't trust anyone but Jak anymore. Damn you, Baron Praxis. Damn you to hell.

"Torn!" Someone said, dragging me from my thoughts. A newcomer. "We need your help. We've found someone like the little one. She has the same sign!"

I didn't remember this. Uh-oh. More game changing things.

_**A/N: **__*queue long apologetic paragraph that I know most of you won't read* _

_HI! Sorry I haven't posted in… 5 days… I've just been SOOO busy. I could write a whole paragraph on what I've been doing but ill try to shorten it.(If you don't feel like reading a long pointless paragraph, please feel free to skip ahead) I had to build a catapult in four days and enter it in a contest, and I got second palce. I had to make a bow and arrow, which im still working on, I had to do a practice Wax Museum thing yesterday, I had to go to my brothers recital. On Friday I had Jazz band and a spring concer and I had to finish my catapult. I also got the Bow and arrow assignment then. On Thursday I had to practice with my combo band until about 5 and then I had to work on my catapult. On Wednesday I had normal band practice (Skool band) and that's the day I got my catapult assigned, and I posted the other chapter on Tuesday… AHh soooo packed. And look, it was a paragraph anyway… woo hoo._

_Thank you all for reading, and I hoped you enjoyed it!_

**xMonster**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: **The Evil in Me Comes Out.  
><strong>Music:<strong> The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance

"_There's a place in the dark where the animals go,  
>You can take off your skin in the cannibal glow,<br>Juliet loves the beat and the lust it commands,  
>Drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, Romeo."<em>

**Mood:** OUT OF MY MIND  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents

Jak and I silently hung back and Torn whispered to the newcomer. When Torn started to follow after him, Katie frantically gestured to us so we would come. So we did.

I tried to listen to their conversation as they walked to the unknown destination. By the turns they were taking, I assumed that we were going to the Underground hide-out. Suddenly, I heard the scream of a young girl pierce the air. "You left her alone?" Torn yelled.

I automatically whipped my head toward the sound, my instincts kicking in. I took off towards the scream. Even though I was evil now, my instincts to save people hadn't lessened any. "No, let them go!" Them? Oh, of course Jak would come with me. "Go tell the Shadow what's happening. These two will either take them out or die trying." Torn said harshly.

Then I saw a sight that made me stop dead in my tracks. There was a little girl - maybe four or five years old - with wavy black hair. Her grayish-blue eyes were wide with terror. She was surrounded by no less than 7 Krimzon Guards, and more were coming. They all had their weapons pointed at her, and she was frantically clutching at the symbol on her necklace. It looked roughly like a circle with an 8 carved out in the middle.

A bell was going off in my head when I saw her. She looked really familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I felt like I knew her at one point. I reached back into the depths of my memories, but most of my memories before my time with Jak and Daxter were erased.

I felt myself changing, and I tried to make it stop. I looked over and noticed Jak was right next to me. He was changing, too, but he didn't look like he was trying to stop it. The monster in me was rising, and it was getting harder and harder to stop it. I didn't want Torn and the others to know what we were, they hadn't seen me change yet, and I wouldn't let them. If they knew what we were, they would try to use it to their advantage.

I also didn't want to scare this little girl, who was already terrified enough. No one had noticed us yet, except for the little girl. Her wide eyes were trained on us, or more specifically, on Jak. She was staring at him like she was trying to talk to him. I looked up, and I saw the monster drain from his face. He was staring at the girl, and then he turned his head toward me, then toward her. I didn't know what he was doing, but he was taking up our time.

I ran toward the KG, all traces of the monster in me gone. Jumping up on his back, I tweaked his neck, snapping it. This should have made me feel bad, but I had no qualms about killing KG. I was surprised by my strength; I didn't know I had so much of it. Maybe that was the Eco affecting me. Whatever the case, I was jumping between two KG, not able to get a good hold on either of them.

The one I had just jumped off of fell to the ground, and I was momentarily distracted. I looked down to see Jak wrestling the KG. I went back to the one I was attacking, and used the side of my hand to hit his neck. He stopped struggling, and fell limp. I then snapped his neck too. I was silently celebrating for a few seconds, when I was tackled to the ground. There were three KG holding me down, and even with my added strength, I couldn't get them off of me. I heard the little girl screaming, and I knew I had to be strong for her.

I felt the KG hold down my legs and arm, and I looked up and snarled. He grinned. Well, at least I think he grinned. You couldn't really tell with the mask in the way.

"Jak!" I screamed. Then I heard a feral snarl and then a growl. There was a slight tearing noise, but I couldn't move my head other than up and down. When I looked up, I saw the grinning KG aiming a very dangerous looking gun at me. "Jak!" I screamed again.

I felt the weight on my arms and legs disappear and I found myself able to move again. I automatically hopped up. That's when I saw my 'savior.' Jak was Dark Jak, and he was tearing KG limb from limb. He had taken down over fifty of them in the last ten seconds.

And then there were no more Krimzon Guards. Jak was still Dark Jak, and he still had evil coursing through his head. He began to walk towards me and I was honestly scared. That was the first time I had ever seen Jak as Dark Jak without me being Dark me. It was truly scary.

He kept up with his advance towards me, and when he growled and lunged towards me, I had to roll to the side. "Jak! It's me, it's Maddy!" I yelled. This didn't seem to affect him at all. I ran towards the girl, who was still standing frozen to our left. I picked her up, and ran towards a bridge and hid her under it. "Stay!" I whispered, and she nodded.

Well, she couldn't see me, and I couldn't scare her. I let all my anger and fear and hatred wash over me. I looked over at Jak, and he was running towards me again. I changed direction and started running away from this unknown girl.

Apparently just emotions weren't enough to trigger the monster. I turned around and stopped, waiting for Jak to catch up in his chase. As he got closed, I felt my heart speed up, and I became jumpy. Adrenaline. That's what I was going for.

Soon, he was right in front of me, and he growled. That was enough to send me over the edge. I felt my body contort, and I felt the monster in me rising. I looked up; Jak had stopped in front of me, apparently satisfied with my change. I was changing into the monster to distract him long enough for him to change back.

I untwisted myself, my change having taken over, and I felt the thoughts run from my head. I hadn't counted on that. I had figured I'd be able to keep my mind. Jak was staring at me, grinning, and I grinned back…

"What the hell?" I heard a voice yell. 'Ha. Puny, pathetic humans. They think they can take us out?' I thought to myself. "What the _hell _happened to you?" The man said. I growled at him.

There were three large humans, and two little ones. The little male looked at me, and his gaze held mine, and I heard words in my head, as if I had thought them, but it wasn't my voice, or my thoughts. A small, childish voice entered my head, and said, _'Monster. Go away. Please. Don't make her evil.' _Make who evil. I _was _evil. I was the incarnation of evil. I growled loudly. Everything about me was evil. _'Go away! She's a nice person.' _Little Jak said more timidly than before. I was still staring at the young male, and I finally drug my eyes away from him and looked at the others who were there. The young female was holding the young male's hand, and above the two, two of the adults where standing close together, their hands brushing gently. The last adult – a wizened old man – was speaking, but I wasn't listening to him.

These humans had to go. I slowly advanced toward them, a never ending growl coming from my throat. I was going to kill them all. And I would get satisfaction out of it.

'_Stop!' _A familiar voice yelled in my head. _'They're good, Maddy. They're good. They aren't going to hurt you. Don't kill them' _The voice I identified to be Jak's yelled. How was he talking in my head? I already had one person in my head, and now I had three.

Then an immeasurable pain took over my body, and I dropped to the ground. My skin felt like it was bubbling wax… and then I was me again. Real me, not evil me.

"Are you ok?" Jak asked.

"How were you in my head?"

"I can still do it," He replied. "Even if you can't."

"Oh."

"What the _hell_ was that?" Torn asked again.

"Blame Praxis." Jak and I responded together.

"Well, whatever it is, it could help us," Torn responded with an evil grin.

I groaned.

_**A/N: **__*Queue another long ass apology*  
>Sorry for the long wait! I was grounded so I couldn't write. Then I had the brilliant idea to write this on my phone (Which is why it's so short!) and that took forever. When im grounded, im kicked off the xbox and the computer and the tv, but I get to keep my Iphone and Ipod. So yeah, I hope the next one wont be as short. :( Please forgive me?<em>

_As always, read and review! They urge me to write faster :D I only got like three reviews, and I didn't feel very motivated to write. Please, just take like three seconds to review. _

_Hopefully, im getting ungrounded tomorrow, so ill be able to write and have it posted by next Sunday/Saturday. Maybe even before that, if I get more reviews!_

**xMonster**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:** Daxter gets a faceful  
><strong>Music:<strong> White Hot by Black Flag

"_Love me  
>So I can feel the pain<br>Of not having made a mistake  
>Love me<br>So I can crawl into your oven  
>And begin to bake<br>Love me"_

**Mood:** Depressed  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents. 

"Whew! Being a biiiiiiggg hero sure makes you thirsty," Daxter said, walking over to the water pump on the wall. There was a disgusting rumbling sound, and then Daxter got a face-full of muck. I had to bite back a laugh when he turned around all disgruntled and covered in mud.

"The Baron turned off all water to the Slums," Torn growled. "He's willing to risk innocent lives, just to destroy the underground." I hadn't realized how much Torn cared about the people. His tough guy exterior may actually have a softie in the middle. Now that was a funny thought. Then again, Katie did try to tell me this when I first met her... "I shouldn't be surprised. I've seen his evil before," he paused, "While serving in the Krimzon Guard." He turned to look at Jak, Daxter, and me, and Jak and Daxter both gasped, "That's why I quit."

I could feel the air in the room slightly tense between Katie and Torn as she leaned against the wall, trying to be casual. But she seemed far from it; usually she would be talking more. She struck me as that kind of person.

"You were in the Krimzon Guard? Huh. That explains your… charming sense of humor," Jak chuckled, I guess he couldn't sense the awkwardness. It was then that I realized that Torn's eyes were trained on me. Fuck. I hadn't reacted when he gave us his 'news.' I was letting my guard slip. I couldn't let people know I knew what is going to happen and what people were going to say. I glared daggers at him, hoping that it would help, and he just shrugged and looked away.

"My friend in the Guard tells me the valve to turn the water back on is located outside the city, at the Pumping Station." Krimzon Guards have friends? I saw anger rise in Katie's eyes at the mention of his friend, while she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Outside the city?" Jak asked, "What about the security walls?"

"What about the Metal Heads? It ain't no petting zoo out there... peeps be getting deep sixed!"

"Find the large drain pipe in the north wall. It'll take you outside the city to the Pumping Station. Get to the main valve and open it. If you survive, the slums will be indebted to you. If not, maybe we'll have a touching moment of silence in your honor." Torn said sarcastically.

"I'd like to give him a 'touching moment,'" Daxter said, smirking. I held back another laugh. I'm sure Torn wouldn't appreciate me laughing at that, seeing as how the room was still slightly tense.

As we were walking out the door, another voice came, "Good luck! And don't die!" I sighed. Katie had too much faith in us. I think I liked her better when she was nearly growling in the corner.

**Katie's POV **

"Good Luck, and don't die!" I yelled after them, and I meant it. I really liked Maddy. She and I could be really good friends if she would let her guard down. She may seem like a hard-ass, but I could tell she was actually a nice, caring person. Anyone could see it in the way that she looked at Jak.

He, on the other hand, was a piece of work. I could usually read people well, but he was harder.  
>The only thing I figured out about him was how much he cared for Maddy. The two would gravitate together like two satellites, always finding a way to touch each other some way or another. He, too, had that look in his eyes when he looked at her; that soft look, that possessive look, that loving look. You<br>could tell he would do anything for her if she asked, and you could also tell that she didn't realize it.

They were only sixteen or seventeen, and I wondered what had happened to them to turn them from teenagers into such bad-asses.

Speaking of hard-asses, here comes mine. Mine. I still shivered at the thought. Torn was mine. Torn and I hadn't been together long, due to his trust issues, but I got past them. I hope.

"You actually think they are going to survive?" Torn asked, and I sighed. He didn't really hate them, he was scared of them. He had seen how powerful they were.

"Of course," I replied.

"Why?" He questioned.

"You saw what those two did to those KGs. They whooped their asses."

"Whatever. I hope they don't come back. Those three can only bring trouble to us.

"We've already been over this, trouble is good." I replied exasperatedly.

"Not with those two it's not," Torn replied, "They'll bring us trouble, and we don't need trouble, Praxis does."

"Don't be such a jerk, Torn. Those two can help us a lot. Besides, bringing trouble to Praxis is bringing trouble to us either way."

"Those two are monsters, and I don't want you near them, they could hurt you."

"Oh you don't want me near them, do you?" I asked heatedly, "So you get a say in what I can and can't do." I hated when guys tried to tell me what to do. I don't care if it was out of concern; I was capable of taking care of myself. I would have voiced my opinion on Ashlin, but chose not to.

Like I said, trust issues. If he had them with me, I didn't want him to think I had any with him.

Torn started to say something, but I cut him off, "So, according to you, they are too dangerous for me to even be around?"

"No, it's not that, it's –"Torn began.

I cut him off, "That I can't defend myself against the big bad monsters?" I questioned again.

"No, it's –"

"Is it – " I started, but this time, he cut me off.

"Will you let me finish my damn sentence?" Torn roared. I shrunk back, and waited for him to continue. I just didn't like thinking that he thought I couldn't defend myself. It just set me off. "Those two were made by Praxis," He paused, as if waiting for me to get it, but I didn't.

"So…?" I questioned.

"Praxis. The same Praxis who wants to destroy the Underground, just sent two of the city's most powerful creatures our way without even lifting a finger."

"They escaped from his prison cell after being tortured for two years." I protested to whatever he was getting at.

"So they say," Torn began, but that's when I got it.

"You think they are spies; Praxis's spies." I stated.

"Exactly," Torn growled.

"They are so obviously not spies!"

"What make you say that?"

"One: they took down the Baron's Banner without even a look. Two: they already know where the Underground is, they could have already told Praxis about it, but they haven't. Three: you can see so much hate in both Jak and Maddy's eyes when you even speak about Praxis. Four –" Torn cut me off.

"Alright, alright, I get your point. They could just as easily be spies as not."

"But they're not," I urged him.

"But they could be, and that's why I'm going to keep a close eye on them." I sighed, knowing that was the best I was going to get. When I said he was a hard ass, I meant he was a hard ass. I reached over and pulled him close, giving him a light kiss, barely grazing his lips, but Torn seemed to want more, and I willingly obliged, leaning into the kiss, and opening my mouth, allowing his tongue in. We battled for dominance before he finally won.

Our tongues danced a dangerous tango of passion, as I tangled my hand into his short cropped hair. I moaned as he laid me down on his desk and lay on top of me, his dark eyes even darker with desire. I ran my hands up his chest, feeling the hard abs that were there. He trailed his lips down my neck, kissing a soft spot on my neck that he knew I liked, I moaned and he groaned, squirming underneath him, then shifting his hips against mine, pressing his obvious arousal into me. I moaned again, and pulled his lips back to mine before attacking them with fervor.

His hands reached down and grabbed my right leg hooking it around his waist, grinding his centre into mine. I trailed my lips down his neck this time, kissing and licking until I got to his soft spot; he moaned a gravelly moan, grinding into me harder. I began to feel a warm rush in my tummy, building higher and higher, dangerously, and I knew it was time to stop.

Torn and I hadn't ever gone this far before, and I didn't want to yet. I knew it was embarrassing, being in my twenties, never have done anything with anyone, but I just couldn't. Call me a drama queen, but I needed to make sure I was with the right person. I just had to find the will power to stop.

"Torn…" I said, but I came out as a moan, and he took it as an invitation to run his hand down my body, stroking my leg. "Torn.. we've- we've gotta st-stop." I forced out.

"Why?" he demanded huskily, and I could feel his warm breath on my lips, teasing me.

"C-caussee." I said in a drawn out moan as he thrusted his hips into mine forcefully, at just the right angle that hit one spot that made me nuts, before I pulled away from him. I unhooked my leg from around his thigh to remove the temptation slightly, because one more move like that and I would attack him.

I looked up at him, with swollen lips and I presumed my hair was flung around us wildly, seeing as how it had come loose from its hair tie. I then finished my words, "'Cause I think Tess is coming."

He chuckled at my statement, as said girl walked in, took in our positions, widened her eyes, and walked back out, shaking her head.

Guess we shouldn't get carried away in a relatively public place.

"Ahh, those are Metal Heads!" Daxter yelled as said monster ran up to us, murder prominent in its mechanical eyes.  
>"Thanks for that, Dax!" I yelled in response, after taking out the third Metal Head. After leaving the underground, Jak, Daxter and I stole cars and flew our way over to the Pumping Station. When we walked in past the clicking doors, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It <em>reeked <em>there.

Jak and I ran to the moving pistons, jumping up, and killing the frog like things that were up there. When they died, they shed Dark Eco, which Jak and I seemed to attract; it flew right towards us, and my body kind of absorbed it. I didn't feel any different, it just kinda disappeared.

We made our way around the mountain, killing Metal Heads and collecting their orbs, and killing frogs and foxes.

"Watch out!" I yelled as Jak jumped over an electrical surge. I could tell he wasn't going to make it, and when he touched the blue electricity, I could see it move throughout his body, shocking him. He jumped backwards, where I steadied him.

"That's it! Maddy, I'm riding on your shoulder!" Daxter said, jumping from Jak's to mine. He fluffed out his fur, which was smoking slightly. I had to bite back a laugh at the sight of him. Jak was grinning at me with his hair standing up and one of the lenses of his goggles cracked. He looked so funny I just had to reach over and hug him. When I did, I felt a jolt of electricity shoot down my spine, and not the same kind Jak and Daxter just went through. It felt like how it did when I used to touch him, before he changed.

Jak was looking at me oddly, and I knew he must have felt it, too. It gave me hope that we could at least go back to some semblance of how it used to be. I smiled at him before continuing on up the mountain, Daxter burrowing into my hair to hide from the wind. "I need to be up here more often" I laughed.

Not but five minutes later we reached the valve, after taking a winding path to the top. "Ahh, the valve," Daxter said, jumping down from my shoulder. "Allow me." His attempts to spin the valve were small and futile, I chuckled as he strained to turn it, and Jak, who was casually leaning up against the pipe, hit it, and it twisted, sucking Daxter up into it too. We watched – and heard- as Daxter made his way down the pipe, back to the bottom of the mountain.

Jak and I quickly jumped down to the bottom, just in time to hear Daxter say, "Jak, heellpp." He was stuck in the tube that usually shot out the water. "Maddy… help?" We watched as the water lightly trickled from the pipe, and waited for the inevitable with smirks on our faces. "Please, help?"

I walked to the right a bit and twisted the wheel, the rusty screech hurting my ears. I saw Daxter's head pop out, then his arms, and then he tried pushing himself out, and got shot out with the water. A grinning Jak squatted down, and opened his mouth to say something, but Daxter held up his hand. "Don't say it. Don't. Even. Chuckle. Next time, _you _turn the valve." I was full out laughing by the time Daxter blacked out and we had to wake him up, and I kept trying to hold back laughs, but giggles kept escaping me.

We walked out of the pumping station with a woozy Daxter on Jak's shoulder, and I pulled out the mini map Korr had given us. It had a small icon telling us to go right. "What's that?" Jak asked.

"I don't know. Let's go check it out." I responded, jumping up to a small one seater. "Race you," I said with a wicked grin.

"You're on!" He said with a mischievous look in his eyes. "One… two… three… GO!" We took off, flying higher and lower, avoiding KG's and the civilians. Just then, Jak pulled ahead of my, using his Zoomer to jump over a building. I dropped my Zoomer low, so it was skimming the water, speeding up. On the water, you didn't have to run around people and dodge Zoomers and KG's. Jak lowered his down next to mine on the water. I swerved around a pole, before going back to him so we were nose to nose.

"I'm _so _going to win!" Jak yelled.

"No way! I'm so going to beat you!" I said as I brought my Zoomer back to people level, just as we were approaching a building. Jak came up too, but went one higher, so he was up with the other Zoomers. I looked up for a second, to see if he was a head, and felt a slight jerk to my car. I looked back down and saw I had hit a Krimzon Guard. I grinned slightly, '_Oops…'_ I heard Jak's laughter as he brought his Zoomer down next to mine. If we were normal civilians, that would be slightly bad, hitting a KG, but Jak and I were wanted criminals, so it didn't matter. The KG didn't even seem to recognize us.

"Pull over!" A Krimzon Guard yelled, but Jak and I weren't going to. We shared a smile before speeding even faster, ditching the guards. Our race was still on. We were almost to the building now, and with just a few more yards, I would win. Suddenly, Jak pulled ahead, and his Zoomer hit the wall.

"Yes! I so won!" He yelled."I told you I would," he said with a smirk. I parked my Zoomer only milliseconds later. I sighed in defeat. The KG's had already given up the search for us, determining us lost, even though we were in plain sight with an exploded Zoomer smoking in front of us. Precursors, Krimzon Guards are clueless.

"What's my reward?" Jak asked huskily, sauntering up to me. My breath hitched in my chest as he backed me up against the wall, before reaching over and tangling his hand in my hair.

"Ok ewww. I'm, umm, just going to go inside…" Daxter said, hopping off Jak's shoulder and running inside quickly, shaking his head as if to clear water from it.

"Whatever you want," I said in a breathy voice, completely ignoring Daxter. I cursed in my head, I sounded really girly.

He pressed his lips to mine, and I couldn't resist the urge to bring my hands up and tangle them into his hair. I loved his long hair, he had such perfect sex-hair. He trailed his hand down to my waist, then back up, repeating the circuit, and making me shiver all over.

"Jak…" I said in a breathy moan, knowing we shouldn't be doing this in such a _public _place.

"I still love you Maddy," Jak said spontaneously. I sucked in my breath. I hadn't been very sure of it recently, this being the most intimate contact we had had in a _long _time.

"I love you too, Jak." I said. He then proceeded to attack my lips with his. Why couldn't we ever have normal kisses? All of ours were so passion filled, leaving me lustful and wanting to jump Jak's bones.

He was so passionate, that I couldn't help but return his kiss. Startlingly quickly, Jak's hand were up my shirt, and mine were in his hair still, holding his face to mine in our dangerous passion filled kiss. He pulled his right hand from my shirt, dragging it down to my left thigh, and bringing it up and hooking it around his waist. I used back as leverage so I could hook my other leg around him too. I gasped aloud when I felt his arousal hit my centre, him grinding into me, lost in a flurry of passion. Not that I was complaining about our lusty kisses, that is.

"Jak." I moaned out throatily.

"I've missed you so much," He said, his rough voice rougher than usual, and I shivered at the sound of it. "I thought I had lost you." I knew he wasn't talking about physically because I would be there for him the whole time; he meant emotionally. With both of us turning into what we did, we both turned into two different people. Even if we had been soul mates back in Sandover, we mightn't have been here. But, if I wasn't wrong, I don't think our feelings had changed too much.

And that gave me hope, for me, for him, for us, for the future.

**A/N: **_Thanks everyone, for waiting for me, again… Im sorry :(_

**xMonster**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: **Crossbow!

**Music:** Seek and Destroy by Metallica

"_There is only one thing__  
>On our minds<em>_  
>Don't try running away<em>_  
>Cause you're the one we will find<em>_"_

**Mood**_**:**_Diffident  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents

"Greetings young warriors," The Oracle greeted us as we walked in, looking thoroughly snogged. I shook my head to clear it, knowing that this was important. "I sense a dark rage burning in both of you." Dark rage? When did I get mad? "In time it will destroy you with its madness." I looked at Jak, and saw he was already looking at me with an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes. "Only the last power of the precursors can save you. Destroy my enemies, those creatures that you call Metal Heads. Bring me twenty five of their skull gems, and I will teach you how to control these powers.

Suddenly, I felt something rising in me, and both Jak and I spontaneously burst out into our Dark forms. Ooh… Dark Rage…

I ran outside, intent on destruction. I felt my sane self slipping away, and my dark, destructive self coming front and centre.

"Just kill some Krimzon Guards and get it out!" I heard something yell… someone… Dexter… Faxter… Something.

I did take his advice though, and as soon as I could, I began taking out KG's left and right, shooting them with Yellow Eco, punching them with Red, zipping around with Blue.

By the time I felt myself weaning off of the Eco, the guards were still around us. Jak was still in his Dark Stage, and I backed up, hoping his would pass. I had to wait about a minute, as his faded too, and the KG's cleared, clueless as ever.

"You two… Jeez man." Daxter said. "Still, I am _never, _and let repeat, _**never **_pissing either of you two off.

I laughed shakily.

We maneuvered our way through the city until we reached the underground. We entered into the room holding hands, and I still had a warm feeling at the contact. I seriously had missed this. I saw Torn pacing back and forth and Katie sitting on the desk, swinging her legs back and forth with a serious expression on her face.

"The water to the Slums is back on. I'd love to see the heads roll when the Baron finds out," Torn said when he saw us walk in. I saw Katie's eyes shoot to Jak's and my intertwined hands, and a grin light up her face.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's losing lots of sleep over this _arm-pit _of the city," Jak said stonily.

"We've done what you asked, now when do we get to see the Shadow?" I asked, finishing Jak's thought.

"When I say do, _if _I say so. But, before I even _think _about it, I want you to take care of an ammo dump we've I.D'd in the Fortress." He said, circling a part of the map with his finger. Daxter jumped up onto the table, trying to see the map better, "Lots of Krimzon Guards, constant patrols. We know it's vulnerable, and the Underground needs _you two _to blow up all the ammo you find inside." He said, throwing his hand down, and accidentally knocking Daxter across the table.

"Get _all _of it, and we'll deal a body blow to the Baron."

"You're sending _us _in, tough guy? And what's with this 'deal a body blow' stuff?" Daxter asked heatedly.

"That's fine." Jak said, "I want the Baron to know that it's _me," _He threw his fist down on the table, _ "_who's hurting him."

"And me," I added in.

Jak, Daxter and I flew to a part of the city I hadn't been to in my 'wonderful' stay in the 'glorious' Haven City. We walked in the door, and I honestly couldn't remember where we were going. My memory of the game was fading, my memory of everything that happened before I entered Jak's world was fading, and it was making me sad. I knew that sometime soon, I wouldn't be able to remember my best friends' names.

We walked in the door, and the first thing that we saw was a tank with spiked front. It was huge, and it looked like it could squash us within seconds. It was rumbling, but didn't seem to be moving, so we cautiously approached it. When we saw that there was no one inside of it, and that it was just turned I let out a breath. I didn't know if it was going to start attacking us or what. I had a small bell going off in the back of my head telling me to remember something, something dangerous, but I couldn't remember anything bad. But, I couldn't relay remember what happened next.

I walked to the left of the tank, breaking the boxes that were there; one had a health pack and the others had some Dark Eco specks in them.

I saw Jak jump up behind the machines to see what was behind it, and he said, "Fenced off," When he returned, obviously referring to the blue electricity I could see shooting back and forth, blocking off whatever was in that direction.

It seemed we had no choice but to walk through the double doors that were leading to who knows what. Jak walked in first, grabbing my hand to follow him. They moment we walked through the door, and feminine, mechanical voice said, "Unauthorized use of Fortress Door, activating security tank." As soon as it said that, a red light was focused on me and Jak and the tank shot off after us. I ran, letting go of Jak's hand, and jumping to dodge the multitude of missiles that were being shot at us.

"Split up," Jak yelled. I nodded before diving to the left, the missiles barely missing my head. I jumped, doing a front flip to dodge the light, over the ledge that seemed to drop to nothing, and then over another one. I didn't know where Jak was, but I wasn't worried, because he was _Jak. _

I turned the corner, and thankfully there was a fence blocking off the shots for the moment. I felt a hand grab mine and nearly screamed. "It's me," Jak whispered. "Let's go, try not to get lost." I kept going with a new found determination.

Suddenly, the tank broke through the fence that was blocking off all the shots towards us, and it was coming at us full speed. We didn't have a choice but to let go of each other and run around the thin curving floor with the holes on it. I was wondering if there were going to be Krimzon Guards shooting at us through the grates in the floor.

Out of nowhere, a bunch of red lasers shot across the floor. I could tell Jak wasn't paying attention, and he was about to step on one of the lasers. "Jak," I screamed, "Jump!" He did so without hesitating, looking down and seeing the lasers. He looked over at me, gratitude filling his dark eyes, quickly to be replaced by whatever was usually in them. I shivered at the dark, unidentifiable look, wondering if that's what my eyes looked like too. I hadn't really had time to see myself in the mirror. I had haphazardly chopped off my hair so it was not swinging a little bit longer than shoulder length, but that was it.

I jumped up onto a box, Jak right on my tail, and swung onto a bar, jumping up on a ledge with a small twist. Jak landed behind me milliseconds later. We ran along the holey grate, and got about to the middle of it before hearing a dangerous crash. I paused, and looked down to see the tank burst through the grate on the wall, and go till it was about under us, shooting up through the holey flooring.

I followed Jak to the end of the platform that we were on, and watched him break a few health boxes, and pick up a health pack. He then jumped over to the spinning platform. I jumped up, one platform behind him, and froze, doubled over for a second. Mid-jump, then tank had shot at me, and had hit me square in the stomach. I felt the Green Eco in me starting to heal it, but I knew that could take over 30 seconds, 30 seconds that I did not have.

Jak was looking back at me with concern, and I met his eyes and minutely shook my head, signaling for him to go. I remained hunched over, waiting for the pain to become bearable.

When I did get up, there was still shooting pains in my stomach, but I could move. I got up, ignoring the pain, and jumped over to the closest platform to me, jumping to the next, and to the middle of the second rotating thing. Jak was about to jump in the middle, but when he saw me there; he remained in place, only moving to dodge the red turret that only really seemed to be following him anymore. It seemed to believe that it had gotten me, and wasn't even paying attention to me anymore. I spun, knocking out the blue glass.

I watched as the blue electricity barring off the door got shut off, so we could make our way through. I jumped onto the platform that Jak was on, where he grabbed me in a vice tight hug, and then let go and jumped to the door, the red laser following him.

We walked through the door, where the tank wasn't able to follow us for the moment. I walked over to the wall, sighing in relief when I saw the boxes on the right side. I broke the box open, and grabbed the health pack, my body absorbing it. What was left of the pain faded, and I was good as knew.

"If something interesting doesn't happen, I'm going to start shooting you," We heard a voice say. I peaked around the corner to see two moving platforms, and across from them, two KG's talking to each other. I didn't even know that the Krimzon Guards talked, let alone to each other.

I grinned before jumping over the platforms right behind Jak. The moment that he landed on the other side, the KG's that seemed to have not seen him before, saw him and started shooting. I jumped over and took out the one on the right, while Jak got the one on the left.

I loved fighting with Jak, no matter how violent he was. We knew the others moves and what they were going to do next; one of the benefits of being in each other's heads for a while, even if we weren't now. When he would fight, I would defend, and vice versa, always knowing what the other was going to do.

We ran around the two walls until we saw two more KG's. "Call for back up," One of them said before Jak hit him.

"That's not going to happen," I laughed, right before taking out the other Guard.

One of the guards from the other side shot some sort of blue light right at us that looked dangerous. I made note not to be in the way of that anytime soon. We jumped across to the three Guards on the other side. I took attack as Jak took defense, and soon all the guards in the vicinity were taken out. Torn was right, this place _was _crawling with KG.

We approached a strip of spikes that were moving up and down with more KG's on the other side. I sighed before jumping over, Jak right next to me. I landed squarely on the Guards shoulder, twisting his neck hard before hearing it crack. He slumped over in a useless heap before disappearing in a puff of purple sparks.

"We're taking heavy fire," the remaining guard yelled, but Jak got him before he could do anything. We were at another strip of spikes, with more KG on the other side. They were everywhere. Jak and I took them out, and the ones behind them. They were too easy; they needed to be more of a challenge. This was just getting tedious, and not fun.

Jak reached the grate in the floor before me, kicking it with his foot, watching it give out. When we jumped down we reached a room with a conveyor belt like thing and another moving platform which we jumped over, and up to the ledge above it. We jumped up and over a few more boxes and another conveyor belt before we finally reached a room. The first thing I saw was a glowing square card on a few barrels to the right of us.

"Cool," Daxter said. "That's a security pass!" Jak looked over at him and grinned a wicked grin that sent shivers down my spine. "We need those to get through city check points." Suddenly we heard a crash from somewhere, and Jak let his grin fall, and dropped into a protective stance before looking over and 'Shh'ing us.

We walked over to a grate in the floor that we could see through, dropping to our stomachs, listening to what they were saying. What I saw shocked me, there were two KG's and two Metal Heads, and they weren't fighting. "These are the latest shipment of Eco. The Baron said take them and _get out." _One of the Krimzon Guards growled. Both Metal Heads growled at him, but he cocked his gun at them and they backed off.

"Metal Heads in the City?" Jak asked.

"Why are the guards giving them Eco?" I asked, finishing his thought. It still confused me on how I could do that. Our minds weren't connected anymore, at least not from my end, so how did I know what he was going to say? It was a kind of subconscious thing, and I didn't even realize it until I said it.

Suddenly, I heard a sound behind us, and froze knowing what it was. I nudged Jak, and we got up just in time to see the Tank aim its gun at us.

We ran towards a bunch of ammo in the middle of the room. "That must be the ammo that Torn wants us to blow up!"

"How are we supposed to blow it up? There's no lever or anything."

"Have the tank shoot them," Jak said. "Just stand in front of it and it will shoot it. Just make sure you move out of the way in time," he finished with a smirk.

We followed Jak's plan, and it worked. The whole lot was blown up in a matter of seconds. "Missile systems at critical overload," The female voice said. As the last ammo barrel was blown up, the voice said, "Warning, Danger. Evacuating building."

We ran out of the building as quickly as possible, but it felt like it was in slow motion, Jak grabbed my hand right before we jumped, and squeezed it just as the ammo blew up. We were shot 20 yards out of the window, landing on a ledge before bouncing off and following down to the streets of the city. As my body hit the ground, my vision started to fade, and I felt myself black out.

"Maddy, Maddy, Wake up!" I heard a rough voice say.

"Whaaaa?" I asked partially, shaking my head to come back to a clear conscience.

"Whoa, this place has too much excitement," Daxter said, wiping his brow, "We need to move back to the country."

We reached the Underground again, and I was still slightly dizzy, but that would be the Green Eco working its way throughout my body again. Before we had left, I had pushed both my hands down on Jak's chest, intent on healing him with my Eco. I tried to ignore the way his heart sped up when I touched him, but I couldn't help but grin. I emitted Eco from my hands watching as he momentarily lit up with the Eco. He had shaken his head and asked, "Whoa, that's how you feel whenever you get hurt? That's… pleasant?" I had laughed as he shuddered.

"The Demolition Trio has returned!" Daxter yelled, drawing me from the memory. One barbequed ammo dump, served up hot!" I saw Torn roll his eyes and sigh.

"We saw something odd while torching that ammo. The Baron's guards were giving barrels filled with _eco _to a group of _Metal Heads!" _Jak said. Torn whipped his head around to look at us, and Katie had her head in her hands as if she were concentrating really hard.

"Really?" Torn asked, "The Shadow will be interested to hear that."

"You know, so far your gigs have been easier than stealin' grass from a sleeping yakow!" Daxter said. Jak crossed his arm and started shaking his head, and I had to stifle a laugh.

Torn, apparently, didn't stifle his, chuckling menacingly before saying, "If you, the girl, and the rodent want to start proving yourselves? One of our 'suppliers' needs his payment delivered - a bag of Eco ore. Take the Zoomers parked out back and drive it to the Hip Hog Heaven saloon in South Town. Ask for Krew - he'll be there. And don't let the Baron's patrols stop you. By the way, when you get there, pump Krew for information. He's wired into the city and may know what the Baron is up to."

"You can count on us!" Daxter said, and Jak smirked. I had kept my head down this encounter, not wanting my sharp tongue and witty logic to piss them off. Also, I was paying attention to Katie. I observed people, and she was interesting. She had like two different personalities, one happy and peppy, and the other sad and depressing.

Since we needed to get to Krew quickly, I hopped on the Zoomer that Jak was driving. He drove like the speed demon he was, zipping through the slums until we got to a new area. There was a screen of red over it, and we couldn't get through.

"Jak, the security pass!" I said. He tossed it to me, and I inserted it into the slot, and the red screen went away, letting us through. I jumped back on the Zoomer, and Jak took off again.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard a gun cock. I whipped my head around to see one of the machine gun turrets pointed at us. "Heads," I yelled, nudging Jak in the right direction. He looked over and saw the gun, nodding, and speeding up more.

A bunch of Krimzon Guard Zoomers came at us, and stated attacking us. Jak dodged around them all, and I started punching and kicking all the Zoomers and guards that got near us, sending them spinning away. You would think that that would be hard, but it wasn't. I had _so _much strength, I didn't know what to do with it – besides punch cars obviously.

Jak kept going, and I didn't really know where he was going, or how he knew where he was going, until I saw water. I knew exactly where we were. He started to go left up at the corner, and I knew that was the wrong way, and that that would throw us off.

"Go right!" I screamed desperately. He was already turning left though, and instead of slowing down to turn around, Jak headed the Zoomer into the water, pulling it right. The move seemed to confuse the KG, throwing them off when they all went reeling into the water.

He stayed in the water, taking a short cut across it to get to the blinking saloon. When he did get there, he pulled the Zoomer to a short stop, and jumped off. He then turned around and helped me off, and I laughed at his chivalry.

"That was… fun," Said a very windswept Daxter. If he looked like that, I couldn't imagine what _I _looked like.

We ran inside, realizing that the KG were still after us, and the minute we stepped foot inside, they stopped coming after us; all the ones that were at the door meandered away.

"Clueless as can be," I laughed.

Jak grabbed the package from my hands and walked inside, grinning. The first think I saw when I walked in was Sig, and _wow_… Wow. Swoon. But I had Jak, who was much more swoon-worthy. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it in mine.

Daxter, oblivious as ever, said, "Let me handle this. Watch my finesse and style." I snorted; I doubted he even knew what the word finesse meant.

"Don't forget to ask about…" Jak started, but Daxter cut him off.

"Everything's cool, nobody panic," Daxter said, pushing his way between my legs to get in front. "Hey, big guy!" As soon as he said that, Krew flew towards him, all fat and chunky and in his floating-thing. I laughed at the irony. "You Krew?" he asked, pointing at the fat man. "Well, we shook the heat, and your shipment is in primo condition."

"That's good 'ey," Said Krew, breathing heavily, "because cargo of rare eco ore is worth more than _ten _of your lives." He shoved his face into Jak's, then mine. "Mmm, and of course, I'd be forced to collect… ahh… slowly." He said, looking me up and down. I shuddered, and Jak wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling my slightly behind him protectively. "Heh heh, the Underground will take anyone with a pulse these days," He studied Jak before turning to me again, "This one is definitely ok, more than ok actually, this one, I could just…" He paused, licking his lips and leering at me. "ahh. Torn chooses well sometimes," His breathing got heavier, and I shuddered again, shivers going down my spine. I wasn't going to show fear in front of this man, no matter how creepy he was.

Jak glared at Krew, pulling my behind him all the way, fixing has stance protectively in front of me. Daxter was on the ground, glaring at him, before hopping up onto Jak's shoulder, drawing his attention.

"And what do we have here? The Shadow's mascot of the month?" He stroked under Daxter's chin, running his hand over his face. Daxter retched as Krew said, "Hmm, soft… Sig, this fur would go good with my silk suits, ey?"

"Listen, uhh, '_Tons of Fun' _anyone can see that you, uh, and I have the real juice in this burg," Daxter said. Jak looked up at him with an astonished look on his face. "We're both players, right? We're both looking for a piece of the action, right? I think we can do business, right?" Daxter said. Jak shoved his face in his hands, shaking his head.

"We did you a favour!" Jak said suddenly, surprising me. "Now it's our turn; why is the Baron giving Eco to the Metal Heads?" he asked harshly.

"Questions like that could get a person killed, 'ey." Krew said, shoving his face back into Jak's. "Sig, pay 'el Capitan,' his sexy girl, and his friend a bonus!" Jak scowled, shoving me further behind him, and raising his fists as Sig walked up. He shoved two Scatter Guns at Jak, and I shuddered knowing one was for me. I hated guns.

"If you want to see what that baby can do, try the Gun Course outside. Show me some skill with that hardware, and I'll hire you for a job or two 'ey" Krew finished.

Jak threw one of the guns at me, and I caught it, holding it at a length away from me in unsteady fingers. "I'm not much of a gun person, myself." I said quietly.

"Not much of a gun person," Krew mocked. "Fine, I've got something just for you then, sexy lady. Sig" he signaled. Sig walked to the back of his shop, and pulled out a heavy black cross-bow. I grinned; I could do that.

"This is a new test, so you're the lucky first." Sig said, tossing it to me where I caught it and the quiver of bows. "Blaster arrows." Is all Sig said.

My grin widened. I could _definitely _do that.

**A/N: **My way of asking for forgiveness is through a rather long chapter?

**xMonster**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:** Five Less Metal Heads  
><strong>Music:<strong> Skulls by the Misfits

"_I want your skulls,  
>I need your skulls,<br>I need you skulls,  
>Like the demon I am"<em>

**Mood**: Apologetic  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>Writers lie, just like your parents.

Jak and I walked out of the saloon to the gun course. There were three doors inside, and we went automatically to the one in the middle. Lining the walls next to the door was boxes of what looked like ammo. We broke open the boxes and filled our stores of ammo.  
>"You will take the courses separately," a mechanical voice said out of nowhere, surprising me. "No cheating, and good luck."<br>"Do you want to go first?" Jak asked me.  
>I just shook my head nervously. I reached my hand up and ran it through his hair affectionately, "Good luck."<br>"Like I'll need it," he scoffed jokingly. He quickly placed a kiss on my lips before walking towards the doors that automatically opened and closed for him.  
>I vaguely heard the voice speaking again, but I couldn't make out what it was saying.<br>I didn't remember what was in the course; if the people were real or fake, if you were timed, if you could actually get hurt in there.  
>It was upsetting that I couldn't remember anything clearly. It was like my memory had been wiped of all detail when we went through the rift rider.<br>I couldn't remember anything about my old life - the most I remembered was that I didn't like my life before this, and I got pushed into a tv and fell into Sandover.  
>I remember that we had to get 100 Power Cells, and I remember a majority of the places we went to, but not the names. I remembered Sandover the most, though.<br>I don't remember what Jak or I had looked like, and I have vague pictures to go with names.  
>I could hardly remember that it was a game before this. I was no help at all anymore.<br>I sat there, thinking, for a good five minutes before the door on the other side of the room opened, revealing a very windswept Jak. He was breathing heavily, but I could read accomplishment in his eyes.  
>I walked up to him and l pulled him into a fierce hug, pushing my lips against his.<br>He responded eagerly, albeit somewhat confusedly. When we finally pulled apart, I looked into his dark eyes, and read the questions there.  
>"What was that for?" he asked with a smirk. I just shrugged. "Okayyyy... Well I d-" he started, but he was cut off by the voice again.<br>"Course Number 2 is ready to commence, cross bow please step forward."  
>"Guess that's me," I laughed nervously.<br>"Good luck," Jak said.  
>"Like I'll need it," I responded mockingly before turning and walking through the door.<br>The door closed behind me, and the voice said, "This is a specialized course, made specifically for your weapon. Good luck."  
>Four cardboard people popped up, and started moving along a track. I hesitantly loaded my bow and shot at one. I blew to smithereens, and I smirked. I took out the rest of them, and followed the course through, easily blasting the little cardboard people to dust. I finally reached another set of double doors, and waited for the voice to tell me what to do.<br>"Your trial is over, please wait while your information is processed."  
>I waited, and then the door opened, and I walked out, grinning, towards Jak, who engulfed me in a hug.<br>"That was COOL!" I exclaimed. Jak laughed, and we walked out of the saloon hand in hand. Daxter was waiting for us outside, and hopped up on Jak's shoulder the minute he spotted us, before we headed back to the saloon.  
>We walked through the doors and were met with Sig and Krew. "Excellent shooting you two!" Krew said. "Ever thought of becoming wastelanders hmmm?"<br>"Can't say that I have," Jak responded, and I just shook my head.  
>"Wastlanders find items outside the city walls, 'ey. Any artifact or weapon worth having comes through <em>my<em> hands. Work for me and I'll throw some of the sweeter items your way." Krew leered.  
>"Kill Metal heads? Get Toys? Sounds good to me." Jak smirked.<br>I grinned. It did sound like a good deal.  
>"Whoa! Slow down Jak, Maddy, fat man; you better run that by me again, 'cause there's NO WAY I'm going outside the city to face more Metal heads!" Daxter exclaimed.<br>"Sig will show you the ropes," Krew responded simply before flying away.  
>"So you wanna be Wastelanders, huh? Well, we'll see what you're made of when we get out in the thick. Krew wants some new trophies to put butts in chairs at the Hip Hog." Sig said menacingly. "So I'm gunna bag him five nasty Metal heads at the Pumping Station."<br>Daxter gulped.  
>"Don't wet your fur, chili pepper, cause were rollin' with the Peace Maker!" Sig said, pulling out a long, staff like weapon with a bright yellow light on the end. I shuddered.<br>"Whoa! I need one of those!" Daxter exclaimed. "Where'd you get it?"  
>"Dont ask," Krew quipped, floating back over to us. "Sig needs someone to watch his back while he tracks the MetalHeads, 'ey."<br>"We'll meet at the pumping station. Listen Cherries, don't you leave me dangling in the wind out there."  
>"Let's do it!" Jak said.<p>

We met up with Sig at the Pumping Station, and he gave us a run down of what was going to happen. I had thought that this was going to be easy because we had already been to the Pumping Station, so we kind of knew our way around, and what we had been through had been really easy. I was wrong.  
>We'd already been to the first area, but this time there was more monsters. Sig went straight to the Metal Head on the right, so Jak and I took the two to the left. We took out the rest of the little lizard things and followed Sig up past the two little piston things and to the left where there was a huge tank in the way. "Watch out! And let me blow up this tank!" Sig said. We all backed away and Jak positioned himself in front of me. I couldn't help but cringe at the sweetness.<br>The tank combusted and left little pieces flying every where. Daxter stared at Sig with a shocked expression. Sig just grinned before turning around and heading in he other direction.  
>We reached another clearing and Sig ducked behind a box ahead. I got it; he was giving us a shot.<br>I pulled out and arrow and let it loose at one of the Metal Heads. It hit it, but the monster didn't die.

Just as fast, I let out another arrow, killing it. When I looked back, Jak had already taken care of the other one.  
>"Drop the bridge!" Sig yelled, and I complied by jumping on top of the bridge, feeling it lower under me.<br>We reached yet another clearing, but this time one of the MetalHeads we needed was in it.  
>Sig dropped onto one knee and started charging his peace maker. Jak and I took out the red lizards that decided to attack now with simple kicks and punches - who needed to waste ammo.<br>Sig got the Metal Head up on the rock, and as it fell, he gave it a thumbs down. I giggled.  
>Jak looked at me like I was insane; I never giggled. Or laughed. Or really smiled.<br>I just shrugged. Jak just shook his head with a small smirk on his face before following Sig down a bridge.  
>We were met with at least six Metal Heads and a bunch of little lizards. I was surprised, but we took them all down anyway.<br>We continued after Sig to see him crouched again, charging his Peace Maker. I looked around for the next Metal Head and spotted it, before hearing Sig say, "There's the second scumbag, cover me!"  
>I turned toward the water, and just like last time, lizards started jumping out at us. They were just as easy to take out, and by the time they were all dead, Sig was already following the path further ahead. "Stay close!" He yelled.<br>We continued after him and took down two more big Metal Heads and countless other smaller ones, before finally reaching a bridge that we stopped under.  
>"There's something wrong with my gun!" Sig said, smacking it against his knee.<br>I groaned. That was just our luck, and just to add to it, Metal Heads started swarming down from the top of the bridge, going straight for Sig.  
>We started taking out all the ones that attacked us, but too many were there, and, like always, something went wrong. Two Metal Heads went straight for Sig, and he was fiddling with his gun, jumping on top of him.<br>Jak and I both ran toward him and pulled them off quickly, though, blasting the Metal Heads and heading over to Sig, who looked mostly unharmed, just a few scratches and bites.  
>"Ugh," Sig said, shaking himself. "Nasty things, those are." He paused, looked down at his gun. "But the Peacemaker is back on line! Let's get moving."<br>The rest of the mission went off without a hitch, and before we knew it, we were standing in from of Sig, who was instructing us to go tell Krew while he picked up the 'trophies.'  
>"Let's go," Jak said, grabbing my hand after Sig walked away.<br>Jak, Daxter and I all made our way back to the entrance to the Pumping station, in the water slums of Haven.  
>I popped up the hollow to look at, and Daxter pointed out the familiar looking icon, tracking to one of the huts on the water.<br>The minutes Jak and I walked into the building, a voice boomed, "Only the power of the Precursors can save you!" I flinched at the voice. It sounded like it was talking directly into my ear. I shivered. "Those creatures you call Metal Heads, bring me their skulls and I will teach you how to control your powers." Jak automatically pulled his back pack around to the front and held up the open bag until the Oracle accepted the offering.  
>"You do well to rid the world of the Metal scourge. As a reward I will grant you each a dark power." I tensed, not knowing what was going to happen. Out of nowhere, a huge bolt of purple light shot out, split into two part, and zapped both Jak and myself. I vaguely noticed Daxter backing into a corner, before my mind was being taken over by my dark alter ego, but this time I could think. I began to question that. Was that the Oracles doing, or mine?<p>

"The Metal Heads have always feared you, angry one." The Oracle said, speaking directly to Jak. "Even now, the Metal head leader realises you can destroy him and save the last chance for our race. You now have control of another dark power." The Oracle let Jak out of its grip on him, and he immediately dropped to the ground, before jumping again and slamming into the ground, creating a dark wave of purple energy. And, just like that, Dark Jak was gone. He shook his head to clear it before looking at me with surprised eyes, pupils blown. "And you!" The Oracle said. I growled at it. "You are just as angry, but you have more control. But control over yourself, or over him. You may be the only hope of stopping the destruction that that one will cause. Stop him, save the world." It paused again, and I growled again. "You also receive a dark power."

I felt the moment I was released from its power, and, just like Jak, I dropped to the ground, before jumping up and slamming to the ground, releasing a wave of blue energy.

My mind immediately began to clear, and a looked around at the smoldering remains of both my and Jak's attacks. The ground was burn black, and the bottom half of the walls got hit too.

I looked over at Jak, and saw him looking at me.

"Cool." He said, and I just grinned

**A/N: **_So, uh, hello :) It's been a while hasn't it. Well, the other day, I was looking through some files on my computer and noticed this half written chapter, so i thought, "HEY! I could use a project for the rest of the summer, and im sure you all were eagerly awaiting my update, right? No? Ah okay fine, well if youre still here, id love your feedback and thoughts on where this should go, or if I should even bother continuing… I can't promise really regular updates, but I can promise that ill try my best to at least finish this story, because ive turned into one of those people that I hate; the ones that just leave stories in the middle. Gah._

_Well, on that note, I hope to hear from you soon lovelies :)_

_P.S. I went through and did some minor editing to the other chapters, so you might want to go back and read them, nothing serious, though, mostly grammar and spelling mistakes, but I did change a few points to fit in with the plot line that I have in my head._

_**xMonster**_


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:** Sewer Patrol  
><strong>Music:<strong> Doomsday Clock by Smashing Pumpkins

"_We gotta dig in, gas masks on  
>Wait in the sunshine, bug eyed<br>If this is living?  
>Sakes alive!<br>Well then they can't win  
>No one survives"<em>

**Mood:** cynical  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

Jak and I grabbed two Zoomers and headed back to the saloon. The minute we walked in, Krew flew down and floated around us in a slow circle, fat jiggling with the movement. "You boys are turning out to be quite useful, ey? Mmm, I have another task for you. The Sewers used to be a fabulous" he swung his arm out before looking at us again," smuggling route for me before the Baron installed security devices."

"And before those late night snack runs kept you from fitting out the front door." Daxter interjected.

He was actually asking us to do more before giving us what we wanted. "I bet you've hatched another _brilliant_ plan in that hungry little brain of yours." I scoffed scathingly.

"So... who or what do we have to shake down, knock out, or blow up?" Jak finished, equally as scornful.

"Well, I need someone to go down and shoot every Sentry Gun in the Sewers, and I'd give you a sweet weapon upgrade if you succeed." I growled quietly. He still wasn't going to tell us.

"Let me guess..." Daxter started sarcastically. "Dank, murky water?" Krew nodded. "Reeks worse than your breath at an oyster fest?" The fat man glared down at him. "Fuller o' Metal Heads than your plate at a one pass buffet?" He continued glaring. "And of course, weapons more lethal than your ever too tighty whiteys," Daxter flung his arms out, grabbing the fat hanging off the side of the chair and jiggling it, his voice rising more, "on a hot summer day? Look, donut hole, why don't _we_ float around here looking hot and heavy, and YOU go roto-root the pipes?" He finished, his tail flicking angrily. I kneeled down and pet his head, calming him.

"We're not doing anything until you tell us why Metal Heads are trading with the Baron's forces!" I sighed with an exasperated '_thank you,_' getting back up to stand next to Jak and look pretty and menacing.

"I should have had you both knee-capped, ey?" Krew said loudly, his face mere inches from Jak's and mine. "All I know is that the Baron cut a desperate deal with the Metal Head leader." He growled at us, sending spit into our faces, Jak was looking him up and down with an eyebrow arched when Krew flew away, turning around before continuing. "Mmmmm, Metal Heads need eco, so the Baron supplies them with regular shipments. In return, the Metal Heads agreed to attack the city just enough to satisfy the Baron's continued rule."

I scoffed out loud, because how stupid can you get. I mean, come on, Praxis? "Yeah, but how long can that deal last?" Jak said, pretty much voicing my thoughts.

"Well, the Baron is running short on eco, 'ey?" I laughed cynically. "And the Metal Heads are short on patience." Krew wiggled his fingers "Baron Praxis NEEDS this war to keep in power. Otherwise, the city would put the true ruler on the throne, wherever that little brat is." I paused in my thoughts. What little brat? The little kid? Which one?

"Maddy and I" Jak started before Daxter coughed loudly. "_Daxter, _Maddy and I will clear your sewers. And, we haven't forgotten about that weapons upgrade you promised in return."

"Bloodsuckers!" Krew growled at him. Jak just smirked. "You don't just stand around looking tight and pretty, do you, 'ey" Krew said, flying into my face again. "Wastelanders. All the same." He said, shaking his head, flying away to the top of the building. I couldn't help but wonder how that little hover chair held all of him.

"Yeah. What a waste." Jak said, staring at me with a smirk.

Jak and I smirked at each other before heading out, me grabbing Daxter by the tail because he was still growling at Krew. He jumped up on Jak's shoulder, and we were out of there, off to do _another _job for a man too fat to walk.

Walking down the streets was boring, and Jak seemed to think so too, because he grabbed my hand and jumped up to grab a two seater hover car. I laughed, jumping up beside him into the passenger seat just as he took off. I laughed and looked back at the dislodged driver who was standing around looking confused. We needed to car more than he did.

Jak seemed to know where we were going, even without the map, but I pressed to button to open it anyways, just so I could know. He was taking us to a part of the city we hadn't been to before. "How do you know where we're going?" I asked.

He shrugged, taking a sharp right before saying, "I just do." I was confused at his answer, but brushed it off. Instinct, maybe?

Jak dropped the car down low to passenger level for a second, and I looked at him to see him laughing menacingly, swerving to avoid hitting people. I smiled at him wickedly before smoothly reaching out and twisting the wheel so the car swerved and hit a KG. I smirked again before saying, "Get us out of here, speed demon." As the mini map started flashing red.

Jak put the pedal to the floor, and we took off. Daxter was down on the floor of the hover car so he didn't get the wind, so I reached down and grabbed him, lifting him up into the wind. He started twisting in my hands, yelling profanities lost to the wind. When a gun fired and a laser beam came so close to my hand that I felt singed, I pulled him back down, where he glared at me disdainfully.

Jak was full on laughing as the KG's pummeled one another, not caring about anything but us. I couldn't help but smile at his laughter, no matter how gruesome the cause. I rarely heard him laugh anymore, so I would treasure when I could. I leaned over and planted a kiss on his still smiling lips, just because I could.

We pulled up – or down, I guess – to a small alcove in the ground in the far corner of the red area. The minute we jumped out of the car, I attached myself to Jak's side, looping my arm with his, skipping us through the doors and onto the elevator. The minute our weight was on the platform, it started lowering, and Jak and I automatically withdrew our weapons, knowing that there was going to be something down there. Daxter dutifully jumped up on Jak's shoulder and sat in his spot, kind of sucking to see what was under the approaching arch.

The doors opened, and the first thing I saw was two red lizards. Jak pulled the trigger at the exact same time I let an arrow fly, and we easily took out one of the monsters together, and separated for the other two. With the lizards dead , we opened the three boxes around the corner, which were filled with ammo and health, and we collected that before continuing on.

The room in front of us was completely dark with a small lit up button that looked like it should be stepped on, so I stepped on it, and the room lit up, showing us a room filled with water with double lasers shooting out of the other door.

"Found the first sentry gun," I stated obviously, and Jak kind of gave me that 'duhh' look. I stuck my tongue out and followed after him.

The turret seemed to be shooting periodically, but could follow us, so it must have a tracker on it. I pulled out an arrow and let it fly towards the gun. It landed on it, but the arrows blast didn't seem to affect the turret.

"Guess it's my gun." Jak said before running around the corner and jumping when the arrows shot. He got close enough to the turret to blast it, and it blew to dust. I caught up to them, and saw Jak kicking the dusted metal.

"Good job sweetie," I said sarcastically in a voice dripping sugar. Jak shoved my shoulder before continuing on, jumping on the grated pipes to the other side of the water. I kind of wanted to know what was in the water, but then I thought about what happened at Dead Town and my still melted shoe, and thought better of it.

We all continued on, killing sewer lizards and Metal Heads alike, collecting dark eco and skulls. I think my body had a certain amount of eco intake that it could take in, because after a while, the dark eco stopped flying at us and just sat there.

We reached the next turret, which was off on a ledge with a grate connecting to it, and I let Jak do it again, cuz I would be no help.

We continued on until another ledge with a sketchy looking grate connecting it to the door on the other side. Jak rolled across it, laughing about not putting his weight on it, and I chuckled before following after.

But of course, things went wrong, and the minute I put my weight on the flooring, it collapsed. I was down in another dark room, but I could see at least eight glowing Metal Heads. I heard something slam to the ground, kind of like a gate closing quickly, and with my luck, Jak was caged in on the other side. I didn't know what else to do, so I stepped on the light plate, and the darkness lit up and showed me that, yes, there were eight Metal Heads down here, and, hi, they all started attacking me.

I started letting arrows fly, but I thought of something else that would make this seem so much easier. I took a second to grope into the back of my mind and pressed to right button somewhere in there, and I automatically turned into Dark Maddy.

I remembered the Oracle's lesson, so I let the Metal Heads surround me before jumping and slamming the ground, creating a blue wave that seemed to shock all of the Metal Heads. They all disappeared with a poof of blue electricity, and their little yellow skulls flew up, and I went around collecting them, still surprisingly clear minded. Maybe I was getting a handle on this whole evil thing. That made me grin darkly because Praxis had given me a very _very _useful weapon.

And of course, there were steps off to the side that I followed up. And again, my pessimism was right, and I saw a gate opening up from in front of Jak and Daxter. Jak pulled me into a tight hug, petting my hair down, because, apparently, bursts of electricity made my hair stand up with static.

"You know you look kinda really hot like that." Jak said roughly, pushing me against the wall.

"You guys need to really stop doing this so randomly." Daxter complained, jumping off Jak's shoulder and walking away, singing loudly.

"That's so wrong," I said in response to Jak's words, kissing him fiercely.

"You know it's hot." Jak smirked before attacking my neck. I moaned, letting my head fall back and he sucked, making sure to leave marks.

Now that I did think about it, Jak as Dark Jak was kinda hot, in a scary kind of way. In a scaryr, powerful, sexy kind of way. I shuddered.

I moaned again before threading my hands in Jak's hair, pulling his lips back to mine before licking down his jaw and to his neck. He growled softly, tilting his head up so I could reach farther.

I was pressed against the wall in a deliciously rough way, and I couldn't help but moan against Jak's neck from the pressure of the wall, and the pressure of him pressing into me. Maybe I had a wall kink.

"Okay guys. Make out session over. Did you forget we're on a _mission_?" Daxter asked loudly, and I laughed, pulling away from Jak.

"Maybe this isn't the best place."

"Never been a better place," Jak said in a rough voice.

"Sure there has been." I said, but I couldn't really think of one either.

"Alright, buddy, stop molesting Maddy, let's go. Party's over." Daxter said, tugging on Jak, who stepped away reluctantly.

I laughed before grabbing his hand and pulling him forward.

We only had to kill two more Metal Heads and jump off a ledge before we were back at the elevator.

"Well that takes care of Krew's 'oh so precious' sewer route." Jak said sarcastically. "Now it's time for some new weapons." I grinned.  
>-<p>

**A/N: **_Well hi guys :) I'm back again with a five page long filler chapter… You know I was thinking, you could kind of use this story as a walk through. Lol._

_Well what do you guys think? I swear we're going to be getting to more fun things than just missions soon… I hope…_

_Hahaha well I hope you guys liked it. Tell me what you think. Any ideas for plot lines, extra people, new missions, things I should add in, etc?_

**xMonster**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:** Driving, Shooting, and Boarding.  
><strong>Music:<strong> The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails

"_Just how deep do you believe?__  
><em>_Will you bite the hand that feeds?__  
><em>_Will you chew until it bleeds?__  
><em>_Can you get up off your knees?__  
><em>_Are you brave enough to see?__  
><em>_Do you want to change it?"_

**Mood:** Sick :/  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

"What _is _that horrible smell?" Krew asked, the second we walked in the door, fanning his face. I subtly turned my head and smelled my arm, but I didn't smell anything.

"Oohh, great, we do _your_ dirty work in the sewers, and come back smelling worse than a wet hip hog in a warm bar!" Daxter exclaimed, surprising me. He sniffed around for a second, and I saw him lean towards Jak, "This could have a serious impact on the lady factor." Daxter flicked his eyes to me and then back to Jak.

I smirked, "I was there too, Daxter."

"Well, we all still smell _nasty_," Daxter said.

"No, uh," Krew burped. "I think that was my lunch, actually." I looked at him disbelievingly. "Nice work in the sewers, 'ey, I guess you're looking for that weapon upgrade, mmm? Well, there's a Blaster mod stashed in some crates at the Port. Find it, and it's yours..." He said, laughing evilly as he flew away.

I looked at Jak, and wondered if my face looked like his. He shook his head, as if to clear it, and then grabbed my hand before walking out.

We made our way to the same building as last time. The boxes were still lined up around the edge, but this time there was one box in the middle with a glowing light. Jak opened it, and found two things in it; one new gun, and one new bow. I reached down and grabbed mine, examining the new attachments. It looked like it was better for hitting exact targets, it had a scope, and the arrows were sharper, rather than blunt, like the arrows in the Scatter Bow.

I hooked the bow onto the holding strap and slid it back next to the other one. "The Blaster is a good 'ol round choice with a nice range of fire." I heard Sig say. I jumped in surprise looking for him, and saw the small flying machine that I assumed is where his voice was coming from. "It requires more aiming abilities. You can switch weapon modes at anytime. You can combo your attacks by kicking, then firing your weapon. Kick your first target and shoot at the second one for automatic aiming."

Four cardboard enemies popped up out of the ground, and I assumed we were supposed to test the moves. I looked at Jak and he nodded, and I kicked the target, and fired an arrow at the second one, both exploding in a matter of seconds. "Now that's a wastelander move!" Sig said. "They won't know what hit 'em. Would you like to test your skills on the gun course?" The doors opened. I waved at Jak to have him go first again, and he did. "Good luck," Sig said, before the transmitter flew away.

The doors closed, and I heard vague sounds of shooting again, and in less than five minutes, Jak was out again and it was my turn. So I walked in the doors and started shooting at all the little carboard figures, pulling out the arrows and letting them fly. It was simple. I liked this mod.

Once I was out, we all walked back to Krew's saloon, where he was once again, waiting for us with a mission. I sighed. I was getting really sick of this fat man and his fucking missions.

"I have a proposition for you. Racing is the biggest sport in the city! Erol is the undisputed grand champion." Krew said, flying in circles around us right when we walked in. "He's crazy" He whispered in my ear, sending spit at the side of my face. I growled before wiping it off, but swallowed down my anger. We needed this man's connections. "and dangerous on the track." Krew continued before laughing harshly. "My kind of guy. Only a fool would dare race against him, 'ey!" He said, flying into Jak's face, jabbing his finger on his chest. I chuckled quietly when I saw Jak raise a hand to fan his face. "And that's where you three come in. A client of mine is looking for a fast driver for her racing team. Here's a security pass to get you into the stadium section." The fat man said, throwing a small chip at Jak, who caught it, and tucked it into my back pocket. I shrugged it off, I was better at keeping things than him, anyways.

Immediately when Krew talked about his client, a small bell started going off in the back of my head, something I should know, but just couldn't remember. I shook my head, trying to clear the warning, but it wouldn't go away. I _needed _to remember something. Something important.

" Uh, and your contract, with just a few trifles for me." Krew said slyly. He handed it to Jak, but I reached out to grab it, he pulled it back. "I've ah, already signed your name to save time, mmmmmnn."

He threw it down on the ground, and I picked it up, glancing at the signed names. "The hell, fat man?" I questioned loudly. "I don't sign my name with a fucking heart."

Krew grinned menacingly. "You do now." I growled and clenched my hands into fists, but dropped the paper.

Daxter automatically picked it up and started reading. "We the racers hereby agree to give Krew all proceeds from race earnings, endorsement fees, broadcast royalties, syndications residuals, vehicle sponsorships, mall appearance fees, collectible card assets, fast-food tie-ins, use of likeness rights, talk show deals, clothing lines, all print rights including book, novella, comic, pamphlet, tickertape, neon sign and bathroom graffiti designs..."

I saw Jak start to nod off, and I smacked him upside the head where he looked up and grinned at me.

Daxter flipped the page, took a deep breath, and continued reading. Toy rights, shoe lines, mood rings, game rights, vitamin endorsements, city kickbacks, movie deals, and of course, all death and dismemberment accident insurance claims." He finished with a sarcastic flourish.

Krew flew over, chuckling darkly. "We can work out the tiny details later. If you can get from here to the Race Garage near the stadium in less than three minutes, my client said that she would consider letting you drive for her team. Make me proud, mmmm!" Krew leered before flying away.

"Can't wait to be done with him." I said. Jak chuckled before walking outside to catch a Zoomer, getting a two seater. It was an unsaid rule that he was the one to drive us places, since he went the fastest, andi had the best aim for killing KG's.

We got to about Sector Six before Jak ended up hitting a KG. The mini map automatically started flashing red, and gun turrets popped out of the ground to start shooting at us. I got up on my knees and pulled the Blaster Bow from the slot and started shooting KG's. This gun was so much better for it.

I grinned, skewering KG's as Jak flew to the ground and 'accidentally' hit civilians and KG's alike. I shook my head, glancing at the timer on the mini map, it's neon green letters telling us we had a minute and 35 seconds left to get to the place, so I was pretty sure we were going to get there.

We flew and I noticed we were approaching a green screened off section, and I swiftly reached into my back pocket and tossed the security key at Daxter, who ran down the length of my extended arm and slipped the key into the lock, all without having to stop the Zoomer.

Jak pulled a sharp right, and I had to twist my arm inwards, scooping Daxter up and pulling him towards my shoulder to avoid him hitting a KG. Daxter immediately grabbed onto my hair and hid there. I laughed before pulling out my bow and taking out more KG's. A minute and a second left.

Jak took another left, and then another right, flying over some water canals. Okay, we were in Sector Five, almost there.

We pulled up to the stadium archway with just over thirty seconds left. When we got off the Zoomer, the timer blinked and the shut off, so I pushed the button to minimize the map and tucked it into my backpack.

"Good job, sweetie," I said sarcastically. Jak laughed at the endearment.

"'S no big, babe." He pushed me up against the wall, kissing me.

"Nope, not here!" Daxter said, shoving his hands between us, pushing our foreheads apart.

Jak smacked his head, but stepped away from me, and laced our hands together, pulling me along.

"Ah... hello?" Jak said when we walked into the door.

"Krew said someone was looking for a race driver?" I continued.

" I'm busy right now." We heard a voice say. The bell in my head only got stronger. Why did she sound so familiar. "You must be Krew's new errand boys." Jak and Daxter glared at the screen where we could see a silhouette of a young woman.

"Hey! I'm a girl." I said indignantly.

"Whatever. Look, I don't mean to be rude, you did get here fast, but I'm not interested in any new drivers right now, and I've got work to do."

"Is there anything we can do?" Jak said in a sultry voice, and I glared at him. He gave me that look that said 'just trying to be helpful.'

I shook my head at him.

"No! I'm... ah... working on a secret, ah... ah... 'vehicle project'." She said, obviously skirting around the point.

"Okay, sorry..." Jak said, throwing his hands up in the air. I giggled at him.

" Listen, if you think you've got the guts to race in this town, try taking my prototype JET-board out on the Stadium Course." Jak and Daxter looked at each other, mouthing 'jet board'. I smacked them both. "I've got two, so if both of you can beat the Stadium Challenge, and maybe I'll consider you for my team." Jak started at the curtain with an open mouth, obviously staring at the woman's body. I felt hot jealousy bubbling in my chest, but I tried to push it down, and just laugh as Daxter waved his hand in front of Jak's face. Jak shook his head, glancing at me apologetically.

I glared at him. What was he thinking? I turned and walked out the door, Jak following close behind me. I was about halfway out when he caught up to me.

"Hey." He said, pushing me up against the wall again. I noticed that Daxter wasn't around.

"Don't you 'hey' me." I glared, trying to hold onto my anger, because if he kept looking at me like that, I'd forgive him way too easily.

"Are you jealous?" he asked incredulously.

I huffed out a sigh. "What do you think?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"That's… hot." Jak said, his pupils dilating, and a dark looking coming across his face. I had to look away so I didn't try to shove my tongue down his throat.

"Jealously is hot?" I asked, my throat dry, trying to hold me own.

"Yeah…" He trailed off in a sultry voice, leaning in, "I like when you get protective of me," He breathed into my ear, and I shuddered. He licked down the side of my neck, and my head fell back.

"Really, really hot. You look so sexy." Jak said, before attacking my lips with his, shoving _his _tongue down my throat roughly. I moaned quietly, but gave in to his demanding kisses, throwing myself into it with equal force, sucking on his tongue.

He groaned at that, so I sucked harder, hearing his groans turn into actual moans. Huh. I let go of his tongue, and he automatically began attacking my neck, sucking on my soft spots, his hands running up and down my body. I felt him place his thigh between mine and start rubbing at the heat there, and I couldn't help but moan, pushing down on his leg.

I let my head fall back against the wall, my skull smacking the plaster, but I didn't even really feel it. All I felt was pleasure, desire and lust. I felt completely ravished.

Jak pulled away, looking at me with swollen lips and pupils blown wide. "Do you forgive me?" He asked in a husky voice.

"Yeah…" I replied shakily. "Maybe I should get jealous more often.

He laughed out loud, pulling away completely, adjusting his pants, before offering his hand. I took it and followed him out. We walked out, holding hands and laughing together as we walked past KG's who were 'looking for suspects.' Precursors, they were stupid. The two biggest suspects in the city were holding hands in front of him.

We walked into another room, and saw two JET boards floating, waiting for us. Jak grinned at me, before dropping my hand to go play with his new toy, Daxter popping up out of nowhere and jumping on his shoulder.

I picked up the JET board, examining it, and jumping on. It seemed like it would require a lot of balance, but other than that, it was easy. "You can get on and off the JET board at any time." The mechanic said over the transmitter. "You can jump on the JET board." I tried it. It seemed that there was some sort of technology holding my feet to the board so I wouldn't fall off unless I wanted to get off. I jumped again. Okay, this is easy.

I followed after Jak, who was spinning in circles. "You can get a higher jump if you duck before you jump." I ducked and jumped. I did get higher. "Jump, and jump again after you've landed for an even bigger launch." I flew the board and double jumped up past a ledge, hi-fiving Jak when I passed him.

"You can land on a rail and grind on it." We were informed. I flew towards the rail that was separating two ledges, grinding on it. This thing was actually really cool. The mechanic continued to inform us until we knew all the moves, spinning, jumping, flipping, and we had to do the challenge.

Jak and I waited at the door for it to open. "I bet I'll get more points than you!" I said challengingly.

Jak grinned. "I doubt it."

The door opened, and we both raced down. There were two watch-like devices there, which would track our scores for us. We put them on - I took the red one, he took the blue one – and waited for the signal.

"Okay, three, two, one, GO!" We both took off, flipping, jumping and spinning and grinding to get higher points.

When the time beeped, I had 28,034 and Jak had 27,998. "Ha! I beat you!" I said in triumph, getting off my JET board and dancing around him.

"By like 60 points," He said sulkily.

"Still beat you," I mocked.

"You couldn't do it again," He said.

"Wanna bet?" I asked teasingly, thinking about the last time we bet on something. That turned out nicely. I grinned.

He smirked back, pushing a button on his timer watch, and I did the same on mine.

We tried again, and of course, he beat me.

The result was quite nice, though.

We went and put our JET boards back on the stands, Jak looking at his longingly for a second. I grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

"We beat the Stadium Challenge." I said when we walked in the door.

" Great. People do get lucky." I hissed. " Listen, don't you have someone to collect money from, or beat up, or something?"

"You don't like us, do you?"

"You work for that slime ball Krew. What's not to like?" She asked. I growled again. I heard her laughter.

Jak turned to the trophy case to our right. I could see a plan forming in his brain already. "Looks like you've won a few races. Isn't it true the city champion gets to tour the palace." Oh. I get it now.

"Yeah, why?" The mechanic asked confusedly.

"Could you get us into the palace?" I asked.

"A friendly visit I gather." She asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. We're _real _fans of the Baron." Jak shot back.

"Okay. I'll help you out if you _stop_ bothering me." I grinned. We could do that. "I saw an old maintenance elevator at the base of one of the Palace support towers. That old lift might take you up to the palace, _if_ you can find a way to turn on the elevator's power…"

-**A/N: **_Okay guys, 124 of you viewed the last chapter, how come I only got one review on it? :( You guys should, like, review more and stuff. Not to sound like a review whore, though (I kind of am.) SO FEED ME YOUR REVIEWS NOM NOM._

_But whatever, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and sorry if it sounds kinda forced, but I'm tired and sick and didn't feel like writing, but I decided I should anyways._

_Well bye! See you next time! Lol_

**xMonster**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:** A Drunk Daxter and a Sketchy Scientist  
><strong>Music:<strong> West Coast Smoker, by Fall Out Boy

'_Wished bounce me weightless  
>The infrared scope on pointlessness<br>the bulls are sedated  
>And this fight's fixed<em>

_Oh hell yes,  
>I'm a nervous wreck<br>Oh hell yes.'_

**Mood:** Tired  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

We went back to the Hip Hog after leaving the mechanics. But this time, we didn't see Krew. We saw two girls. I felt my eyebrows pull together; this can't be good.

We walked up to the bar, and Daxter went straight to the girl on the left, the blonde. Wait. That was Tess. And Katie. What were they doing here?

"Hey Sugarplum. You new here? Well, whatcha got that's, uhh, _hot?_" Daxter asked wiggling his fingers. He paused. "Wait, I've seen you two before. You guys are with the Underground!"

"_What _are you doing here?" I asked loudly, glaring at both of them.

"Shhh! I'm Tess. She's Katie. Torn sent us to spy on Krew. Play along, and we may be able to get our hands on a few of Krew's secrets." Tess said, putting two fingers on Daxter's lips to shut him up.

I laughed quietly, shaking my head at him. "Oooooh... I love _undercover_ work, baby! But, uhh, don't you two honeys think that you could use some help from _Orange Lightning?_" Daxter asked, slinging his arms around both the girls' shoulders. Tess giggled, but Katie just shook his arms off, putting her hands on her hips.

Daxter jumped behind the bar, and I saw Jak roll his eyes at him. "Wow! There sure are a lot of bottles back here." I sighed. Leave it to Daxter to get _drunk _in the middle of a mission.

"Whew! Ooh that's, ooh that, that goes down aah..." Jak leant over the bar with concern for a second, and sighed exasperatedly, grinning apologetically at Tess and Katie, both of which looked irritated. "Ooh boy, gee ya 'spose that's real gold floatin' in here? How 'bout this purple stuff?" All eyes turned to look at Daxter, who was consuming _a lot _of alchohal.

"Jak! Maddy!" Krew said, coming into view. "I need you two and the talking rat to go around and make a few collections for me."

Before he could continue, Daxter popped up from the bottom of the bar, swaying slightly, and hiccupping occasionally. I saw Tess giggling.

"Hey there, five chins... how's crimes?" He pointed a shaky finger at Krew. I saw Jak shaking with silent laughter behind his hand, and I couldn't help but laugh with him. Before I knew it, we were both clutching out midsections, laughing.

"What's his problem, 'ey?" I held a hand up, gasping for air, but before I could respond, I fell into another fit of laughter, grabbing onto Jak's shoulder pad.

"Nothin'... I'm just fine... mind your own business..." Daxter said defensively. Well, as defensively as you can get when you're trashed. He then proceeded to fall down on his back, eyes twirling, singing loudly and off key. I pressed my face into Jak's chest to control myself, taking heaving breaths to calm down.

Jak and I both sobered up enough to hear Krew again. "Listen, I have six 'clients' around town who are about to make money drops for me." He whispered urgently, I glanced quickly over my shoulder to see Tess cleaning the bar, subtly glancing at Krew. I knew she was trying to listen. Katie was cleaning a glass, but staring at me warily. I glared at her before turning back to Krew. "I need you two to collect each moneybag as fast as you can." He took a deep breath before continuing, louder this time. "_Take care_ of any guards who get curious, mmmmn. Get to a moneybag too late and some townie might pick it up."

"-DRRYY!" Daxter exclaimed, cutting off what Krew was going to say. You know what's da trouble with you Krew? You got no vision... This place could be a real swingin' joint... Hop Heg Hiven" Daxter slurred, Krew glared at Jak, who just smirked. "with more dancin', more mac'n, more WOMEN!..." He fell back on the counter.

"Come on, Dax. Gotta sober up." I said gently, picking him up and cradling him in my arms, still keeping an ear to what Krew was saying.

"You're a good person 'Mddy." Daxter slurred, placing a big wet kiss on my cheek. I wiped off the otzel slobber with my gloved hand, and Daxter jumped up on my arm, grabbing Jak's hand, and kissing it wetly before saying, "I love you, man." And falling down.

"If you lose even one bag, then don't come back, 'ey!" Krew said harshly.

"Let's go, Dax." I said. I didn't know where this mother hen was coming from, and I didn't like it. So I walked over to Katie's side of the bar. "Can I get a glass of water? A big one." I growled at her.

"Yeah," She said shakily. I freaked her out. Good. "That'll be ten credits." I glared at her. "Right. Uhh, coming up."

She handed me a glass of water, and I took a sip of it, before reaching over, and dumping the whole thing on the sleeping otzel on the counter.

Jak almost fell over in laughter when Daxter shot up, "What was – We was – that was-?" He looked up and saw me with the glass in my hand and a smirk on my face. "That," He said soggily, "Was rude."

"Got you up didn't it?" Jak said, smacking him in the head.

At that moment, with a distracted bundle of boy, Katie lent over to me and said, "Hey, bad ass, after your mission with Krew head over to the Underground. Torn needs your help. He just won't admit it." She walked away before I could respond. I just shook my head and grabbed my bundle of laughing boy.

We walked outside, and Jak jumped on the Zoomer, and I got on behind him straddling him, opening up the mini map. There was a timer on there with thirty five seconds. Jak took off.

The second the Zoomer moved, KG's were on us, and I had to use my bow to deflect shots to avoid getting out heads shot to bits. I rapidly started pulling arrows and letting them fly home in the KG's heads as Jak took off like a bat out of hell to the money bags.

We flew through Sector 4, and Sector 6, avoiding turrets and KG's alike, before looping around and heading back to the beginning of Sector 4, still collecting the bags that we apparently couldn't get on the first ride around.

We picked up the last money bag, and headed towards the Hip Hog. Apparently after our mission, we weren't important enough to need to keep looking for, because all the KG's gave up the search at once.

"Mmmm, quite the money collectors, 'ey?" Krew said when we walked up to the bar. Neither of the girls were there now. "Here's a Weapon Upgrade. Now get out! I need my beauty nap." I scoffed.

"Trust me brother. There aren't enough hours in the day." Daxter said sarcastically. Jak and I grabbed our upgrades, attaching them to the weapons, before heading out to the Underground.

xMx

"One of the Baron's mining operations is under attack by the Metal Heads." Torn informed us as we walked in.

"That's not _our _problem." Jak responded, harshly. He was right, though. It wasn't. That was all on Praxis.

"It _is_ our problem when the foreman's one of the Underground's best informants!" Aww hell. Another mission. "His name is Vin, and he's just valuable enough to save. Find the warp gate at the Power Station and use it to travel to the Strip Mine so you can rescue Vin's pathetic hide.

"Hey, Tattooed Wonder, how come we get all the crappy missions?" Daxter asked, standing up on the table in an attempt to stand eye to eye with Torn. It wasn't even close.

"Because I... DON'T... LIKE... YOU!" He responded, pushing Daxter to the floor.

"Fair enough..." Daxter squeaked out sheepishly.

"Whatever deal the Baron made with the Metal Heads, the city's eco is almost gone, and his time is running out. If we don't get those kids back on the throne soon, there may not be a city left to defend…" Torn said seriously.

"Eco, huh." Jak said, looking at me.

"Eco, huh." I echoed, holding out my hand. A small spring of red eco burst up, looking like flames. Torn stared at me. I just shrugged.

Truthfully, though, I was running out of Eco. Dark Eco wasn't enough to replenish my Eco sources when I wasn't in Dark mode. I only had small amounts of Eco left in me. I closed my hand, absorbing the eco again.

Torn turned away, muttering, "You're going to get yourself killed with tricks like that."

We took off towards a small icon in Sector 4, hidden away in the corner. Inside was a blue room with a floating, almost translucent ball in the middle, we brushed it off and headed to the right where there was a teleporter ring.

"Nice to know these are still around." I said with a smirk, before diving through, Jak and Daxter right behind me.

We flew out of the teleporter ring, and I felt fine. "Huh," Jak said. "They must've fixed the after affects."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me forward, both of us easily blasting out the Metal Head scorpions in the way. We decided to split up to cover more area to find whatever we were looking for, so I took to the right, and Jak and Daxter took to the left.

I followed a big looped trail, taking out Metal Heads and collecting their skulls, before reaching a big machined factory with moving tracks leading upward. I followed the path opposite of mine and found Jak and Daxter killing another Metal Head.

Daxter saw me and started waving vigorously, like I had been gone for 10 days, rather than 10 minutes. They caught up to me, and we headed back towards the moving tracks.

At the top was a few more Metal Heads, and across the ledge we could see a glowing yellow column. I figured that that's where we were supposed to go.

We went over to it, only having to jump over some coal mining carts, and found a door with a big red button. And, of course, Jak pressed the button automatically. No caution at all. The doors opened to reveal a barricaded doorway and a nervous scientist.

"Aaagghh! Stay back!" We heard, before shots were being fired in every direction. I automatically, dropped to the ground, rolling over and pulling out my bow, already having an arrow aimed at the guys head. Then I remembered he was the good guy and put it away.

"Do something, Jak! This guy's crazy!" Daxter exclaimed from the right side of the doorway.

"Hey, are you Vin? We're here to help. Torn sent us." Jak said loudly, trying to reason with a nervous scientist with a pistol. Why was this man so important? Seemed kinda sketchy to me.

" Stay back!" He said, still shooting.

"Look, if we were here to kill you, you wouldn't be talking right now!" I snapped loudly, trying to get the insane gunman to stop shooting. He stopped, and I laughed menacingly. "You have no idea how close you were to getting your brain blown to the other side of the room."

Jak glared at me and gave me that look that said, _not now._

"Oh, friendlies? Oh thank goodness! We... so... whe... where's the army?

"Ah... we're it." Daxter said, flicking his hand and me and Jak.

" What?" Vin asked, adjusting his goggles. "Just you three? What do they think I'm worth?" He face planted against the barricade to his right.

"I'm beginning to wonder that myself!" Jak said.

"Look." I said sharply. "If you know what's good for you. You'd stop waving that pistol around because I could be on you in exactly 0.3 seconds."

"If you want, you can stay here and be Metal meat, but Maddy, Daxter and I are leaving before those monsters get back." Jak said, taking my hand and beginning to walk towards the teleporter gate.

Vin automatically jumped out after us, waving his gun around, despite my warning, walking backwards until he tripped on the ring and fell backwards into it.

I laughed quietly. "He's quite the character, ain't he?" Daxter said, jumping through the ring. I jumped through after him.

We reappeared at the Power Station to Vin, who was already puttering around his lab. "Hey, I want to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the Strip Mine."

"And we'd like to thank you for being such a bad shot." Daxter said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Ah yeah, sorry about that guys. Ah, I'm a bit jumpy these days." Vin responded, rapidly pressing buttons on his control panel.

"Hadn't noticed." I scoffed.

Vin looked down at Daxter who was smiling at him sweetly, before widening his eyes and screaming, "Aaah! A Metal Head behind you!"

"Vin flipped out, jumping everywhere. "AAH! Whatha?... Whatha?... Wha!... Whhoooo.. Oohh...!" He fell to the ground in shock.

"Just kidding... nice reaction time though." Daxter said airily, walking passed the scientist.

"Not funny!" Vin said, getting up.I gave Daxter a small high five. "Those Metal Heads have been attacking our mining operations and we're running out of eco! Eco power keeps the city shield walls up," he breathed, running his finger over writings telling of the shields system configurations. "and if the shield drops... well, we can all kiss our butts goodbye!"

"I've got a few surprises for those Metal Heads." Jak said nonchalantly, looking out the window.

"You've got to keep the shield walls up until the Shadow figures out what to do." Vin exclaimed, pressing more buttons.

As he spoke, Daxter climbed on top of one of the control panels, pressing his face into the swirling patterns.

"My readings show a drop in eco flow at the Drill Platform. Probably some Metal Head eggs draining away power." Daxter lost his footing and fell to the ground, backwards. "So, use the Warp Gate to go to the platform and destroy every Metal Head egg you can find.

**A/N: **_Fin!_

_I love Vin he's so fun and sketchy :P Well review with thoughts please *crosses fingers*_

_(Im going to try to update this every day. I already have the next few chapters written out, and the ones after than planned, so that shouldn't be a big deal, but if I do lag behind, feel free to yell at me until I get my ass back out there and write.)_

_Cheers!  
><em>**xMonster**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:** Scrambling Eggs and Saving a Krimzon Guard Hag  
><strong>Music:<strong> Let's Kill Tonight by Panic! At the Disco

'_If I retreat,  
>Words, wars, and symphonies,<br>Make room, we're taking over here,  
>and you're the galantine.<br>Cold and alone, it suits you well.  
>Won't fine me perching here again.'<em>

**Mood:** Headache-ey  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

The Platform was similar to the Strip Mine in the way that it was dark, and there were Metal heads _everywhere. _It was kind of creepy, the amount of Metal Head scissor scorpions there were, just kind of floating around, attacking anything in sight, but I guess that's what we get when we walk _right into the middle of a Metal Head breeding ground._

The Scissor Scorpions swarmed the first moving target they saw, and got really close, so my arrows were no use, unless I jabbed the damn thing in the eye with a Scatter arrow. I couldn't really punch them either, without getting my hand sawed off my hundreds of tiny blades. You know, whatever.

So, I was kind of no use. I just hid behind Jak and took out the Metal Heads that I could see in the distance with the Blaster Bow.

"Precursors, there are eggs _everywhere." _I said in a type of horrified disgust. They were like little glowing bulbs, ready to be popped. I didn't even want to get near them, but curiosity got the best of me, and I noticed, upon closer inspection, that I could see tiny Metal Heads inside the egg, wiggling around. I wanted to burn it.

So we made our way around the side, through swarms of Metal Heads, and up an elevator to where there was a turret. Jak went straight towards it, sitting down and pulling his goggles on. I pulled mine on as well, because, really, who wants dead Metal Head guts in their face, and climbed to the top of the turret to shoot down the flying Metal Heads, which started attacking when Jak shot at the eggs.

There were about four colonies in this section, and I was right about wanting to watch for flying debris – that stuff got _everywhere. _

Once the eggs were sufficiently destroyed, we moved on, down some moving tracks, and through a broken down wall where there was a Metal Head walking back and forth with a shield. A _shield_. Why do Metal Heads get shields?

The thing had to lower its shield to shoot at us with some sort of Dark Eco laser, so I took advantage of that, and an arrow landed home right between its eyes. The thing disintegrated, leaving a skull for us to pick up.

We continued on to another room full of Scissor Scorpions, where I just hung back and let Jak blast them to bits with the Scatter Gun.

"Are those Red Eco barrels?" I asked, pointing to the red barrels lying around.

"Probably not," Jak said, jumping on top of one.

"Would you be able to tell?" Daxter asked curiously. "Like, absorb it through the barrel of something?"

"Huh," I thought about it. "I don't know. Maybe."

I put my hand on the barrel, concentrating on the substance inside, trying to make it do something. I stared harder. Nothing. "Nope. Either it's not Eco, or I can't."

"Well let's open it!" Daxter said, jumping off Jak's shoulder and onto a barrel.

"No, let's not." Jak said automatically.

"Eco is highly explosive, Dax, and unless you feel like getting your face blown off, I wouldn't suggest it. Have you not noticed we're in a room of _fire?_" I asked.

I jumped up on the barrel and started following Jak, who was already running along the grate, dodging bursts of fire.

I hit the switch that made another platform rise, and jumped across it. On the other side, there was a track moving in the wrong direction, and Metal Heads flying up it. Jak Scatter Gunned them, and we continued on, hitting another switch, killing more Metal Heads, dodging more fire, until we reached another turret.

Jak jumped in it, and I pulled on my goggled, the world taking on a blue hue. I perched myself at the top of the turret on one knee, shooting at the flying Metal Heads. Jak went about smashing the eggs, and wasn't paying attention to the Metal Heads, so he couldn't point out when one came in from the opposite direction of where I was shooting. The thing knocked me off the turret, and I smacked the ground hard enough so that I lost my breath.

I took heavy breaths, making that awkward choking sound you make when you can't breathe. While I was still immobilized in shock, a Metal Head came flying out of the sky, heading right towards me. I scratched my hand on the ground frantically, searching for my discarded bow, but I couldn't find it.

The thing came flying at me, claws out, but before it could get any closer, Jak's turret took the thing out. I heaved out a broken sigh, sitting up as Jak got out of the turret, offering his hand to me, chuckling all the while. I held my hand out, took a deep breath, before wheezing out a pathetic, "Shut the hell up."

Jak and Daxter both fell down in a fit of laughter. "I almost died, stop laughing!" I protested vaguely, trying not to laugh. "Just- Ugh shut up. We all have near death situations."

"I'm sorry," Jak said, still shaking with laughter.

"We do!"

"Yeah, yeah I know." Jak said, grabbing me and pulling me towards the elevator.

We went down, killed some more Scissor Scorpion Metal Heads, climbed some more barrels, shot another shield Metal Head, jumped across a few collapsing platforms, spun on a couple bars, killed some more Metal Heads, and rode another elevator before we finally found the last turret.

"Think you can shoot them without dying?" Daxter asked.

"Shut up, Daxter." I replied before jumping to the top and pulling my goggles down. I payed more attention to my blind spots this time, making sure I didn't get hit. Jak shot at a small colony of eggs, and when it was gone, the building it was on collapsed, leaving just a few faintly smoking remains.

Jak took out the rest of the eggs and climbed out of the turret with a satisfied grin. I hopped down after him. He reached his hand up and brushed a glowing green thing out of my hair. "You, uhh, have a little dead Metal Head egg on you."

"Okay, eww. Gross." I said, shuttering.

"You destroyed the last of the Metal Head eggs!" Vin said enthusiastically through the transmitter. "That should give us a little more Eco for the city. Good work!"

Turns out that the fallen building had collapsed onto both sides of The Platform, creating a convenient bridge back to the Teleporter Ring. We crossed it and jumped through the Teleporter, reappearing at the Power Station. Vin didn't have anything more to say than another vague "Good job," as he rapidly pressed buttons, so we left.

"So where to now?" Daxter asked, so I opened the mini map, pointing to the small sword insignia, telling us to go to the Underground. The otzel sighed. "Him again."

"Him again," I affirmed. Jak grabbed a Zoomer, pulling me up with him, and headed towards the Underground.

xMx

"One of my old Guard comrades was sent to the Pumping Station," Torn said immediately when we walked in. He was pacing around the table, running his hand over the maps and artifacts there. Katie was in the back of the room, reading an old map of some sort. Wasn't she supposed to be at Krew's?

Daxter was already goofing off, pulling faces every time the swinging lamp light hit his face. "There's been no word from her patrol, and after what you guys ran into out there, I'm afraid she may need some help."

"Did you say 'she'?" Jak asked curiously.

"Yes. KG's can be girls too." Katie snapped from the back of the room. Everyone grew silent looking at her.

Torn suddenly pulled away, and caught the lamp, shining the light in Daxter's face, leaning towards him angrily. "_Stop _that!" He yelled, "This is _serious, _you moron."

Jak held up his hand threateningly in Daxter's direction, and Daxter pulled out a karate move. "WHAA! That's right! Don't mess with the sugar!"Jak rolled his eyes, and I dropped my face into my hands, shaking my head at him.

"This _friend_ of mine has helped the Underground many times before." Torn said as Daxter walked across the maps on the table, looking up, and snapping a salute a Torn. Go back to the Pumping Station and take a look around. Render assistance if needed." He paused looking at Daxter, before poking him in the chest roughly. "Now get your squirrelly ass outta here!" He growled.

Daxter pulled a raspberry in Torn's direction, and Jak, fed up, reached out and grabbed him by the neck, dragging him outside to the waiting Zoomer.

I laughed, following them outside, shaking my head at them before hopping on the Zoomer and opening the Mini Map. Jak took off in the direction of the Pumping Station's symbol.

He swerved around KG's and civilians, trying not to hit them. "I've got suspicious activity in this Sector." I heard a KG bark.

"I'll give you _suspicious activity._" I threatened emptily.

"You know," Jak said, adopting a thoughtful face and stopping the Zoomer in the middle of traffic. "I don't think we've caused near enough mayhem recently. The KG's are gunna get bored." He grinned wickedly at me.

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, grinning just as menacingly.

"Guys. GUYS. This does not sound like a good idea." Daxter said nervously. I just took out an arrow and shot at one of the driving KG's. Almost immediately, the rest of the Guards were on us, shooting at us, trying to get us out of the car.

So we did. Jak and I jumped down from the Zoomer and started wrecking shop on KGs and civilians alike. It was exhilarating.

'_Go dark.' _I heard a voice say, and I jumped, letting an arrow go prematurely. I'd forgotten Jak could still talk to me in my head. I looked over at him and saw him glance at me and nod, grinning all the while.

'What the hell?' I thought. "Why not?" I searched through my head for a second, looking for the button to trigger that all consuming evil. I was kind of growing to like it. That couldn't be good.

I felt my finger nails begin to lengthen, and my hair begin to rise and my eyes begin to darken as a fog took over my mind, leaving me with conscious thought, but nothing to distract me. Jak was already in Dark Mode, clawing KGs in bursts of purple electricity, and I joined him, clawing with my own blue electricity.

It was weird, if felt better this way. I could feel the Eco coursing through me, and it made the sick feeling I didn't know I had go away. I felt more refreshed than I had in _months. _

I eventually felt the burst of power go begin to wean, so I jumped and did that Dark Bomb thing, sending out a cloud of Blue Eco that zapped all of the KG's. Jak did his directly after mine, taking out the remaining Guards.

"That felt nice," I sighed wistfully.

"Yeah," He replied, pulling me up into a Zoomer. We took off, the Guards forgetting about us, and reached the Pumping Station in one piece.

"Leaving city safe zone," The mechanical female voice reminded us as we walked out. Her statement was proven true as we were attacked by a giant Metal Head. It was easy to take out, though. We followed along the same path we had taken last time we were here, killing Metal Heads and collecting their Eco.

I noticed that every time my body absorbed the Dark Eco, I began to feel more powerful, healthier and more alert. It was kinda cool.

We followed along the familiar path, and in no time, we were in a clearing at the top of the station, standing next to a seemingly broken down Police Zoomer.

"Ehhh, what the heck are we doing risking our lives to rescue some old Krimzon Guard hag anyway? She's probably got more facial hair than me!" Daxter said, scratching his ear with his hind foot.

"Shut up you misogynist." I said, smacking his head.

"Misogy-waaa?" Daxter said.

Then, out of nowhere, a girl wearing red, blue and black clothes, with ginger hair and similar markings to Torn came down, grabbing me around the neck, holding a knife to it "Who the hell are you three?"

"The fuck?" I choked out, holding my hands up, eyes wide and mouth gaping in surprise. Jak had already pulled out his gun and had it pointed at her.

"Let her go," he said in a low voice, "Or I'll bl-" He was cut off by Daxter.

" Mmm, I do love a woman in uniform! Wanna bark some orders at me... woof... woof." Dax said. Then he jumped on my chest, balancing between my chest and her arms. "I'm your soldier on the front lines of looooove!" He jumped off. "Waiter, foxhole for two..." she tightened her grip on me, drawing blood on my neck.

"Keep talking, and I'll raise your voice a couple of octaves." She threw me off, and I stumbled forward, where Jak caught me, wrapping his arms around me.

He turned me around to the front, keeping on arm around my waist, holding the other one up in a defensive manner. "Easy... Torn asked us to help you."

"I don't need help... but you might. We've got company." She said, taking off in the direction of the swarming Metal Heads. I rubbed at my bleeding neck for a second, but pulled out the Blaster Bow, following after her, already letting off arrows at the Metal Heads.

Jak was close behind me, and between the three of us, we easily dusted all the monsters. "Nice shooting," The girl said, walking over to her Zoomer.

" Watching me take care of those Metal Heads was, ahh... pretty... exciting... wasn't it sugar?" Daxter said smoothly, resting his hand on the side of the Zoomer.

She started up her ship, and the gust sent Daxter back a couple of feet, leaving him running in the wind. I laughed faintly. "Hey, sweet stripes, gimme them digits so I can look you up sometime. We'll party hard, big city style!"

" Tell Torn Baron Praxis is planning something big. I think it has to do with that symbol." She said, ignoring Daxter and pointin at a stump with a circular symbol with two circles, and a set of curving lines. I felt like I'd seen it before somewhere…

"What is it?" Jak asked.

"I've seen it before…" I trailed off vaguely.

"You've seen those two kids? Yeah they got it." I paused, thinking back. Oh yeah, I remembered now. The necklaces."It's the Seal of the House of Mar. The founder of Haven City. We're being sent out on 'suicide missions' to locate artifacts from the time of his rule." She jumped down into the main seat. "If curiosity's worth dying for, you can ask the blind old soothsayer in the bazaar named Onin. She might know something about all this. Here's my bazaar access security pass." She tossed a little red thing. I caught it out of the air, flipping it open.

"Your name's Ashelin, huh?" I asked loudly over the roar of the Zoomer's engine.

"We're even now." Ashelin said, before taking off and flying back to the city.

"Wow! What a woman! Arrggh!" Daxter barked again.

Jak and I both reached down and smacked him at the same time.

**A/N: **_Honestly, I really hated both of these missions, and the fact that they were in a row kind of made me want to die inside._

_Just my thoughts. Hope you liked the chapter._

**xMonster**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:** Onin's Relics  
><strong>Music: <strong>Chunksong by The Bouncing Soul

'_I don't know what it is I'm looking for  
>Can't find it anywhere, never felt like this before<br>I got no idea what it is I try to find  
>I've got a strange feeling I'm lost in my own mind'<em>

**Mood:** Really _really _tired  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

"Cool! Check out all the dead stuff!" Daxter said, poking a dead monkey-parrot, which apparently wasn't dead. It automatically woke up and bit at Daxter's finger. "Owwww!"

"Touch the goods again, rat boy, and you'll be, arrrk, counting with your toes!" I said, swaying for a second, then flew off and spun on it's tail, landing on the hat of a mystic looking woman at the other side of the tent. "I am Pecker!" Pecker excalimer, flinging his arms out. Pecker? Really? I had to turn my face into Jak's shaking shoulders to supress my laughter. "Yes, yes, I know, my mother, she was…" He put his feathered hands together in a thoughtful gesture. "very vindictive." He decided. I saw Daxter elbow Jak with a huge grin, as Jak hid his laughter into his hand. "I am Onin's interpreter." HE finished with a flourishing bow.

The woman, who I assumed was Onin, gave out various hand gestures and magical blue auras around her, which Pecker translated into, "Onin welcomes you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... the usual boring salutations. She says it is good to see you two again." He said questioningly.

"But we've…" I began, crossing my arms over my chest, trailing off into my thoughts. I don't recall ever seeing this woman before.

"We've never met before." Jak finished for me, copying my stance.

"Before... after... it is all the same." Pecker said quickly, fluttering the feathers on his right wing. "Onin says that she's glad you two are together. She says your powers balance each other."

"But how does she-" I began, but Daxter cut me off

"Oh! Oh! Let me try! Aaah... she wants a... She wants a yakow bone! A yakow bladder! No... no... I got it! For many moons... she has... waited for... a juice pop? A jewel shop? Oh... oh... I know! She's got a hairball? A hair lip? A hairy chest?"

Pecker interrupted him with an irritated glare. "Close... but NO! Onin says you seek answers... arrrkkk, about the Tomb of Mar." Onin twirled her hands around the floating blue particles, making two symbols, two shapes that vaguely resembled a nine and a six, and combining them at the two small circles. The result was a shimmering blue version of Mar's symbol.

" So what do we need to know?" Jak asked. I nodded.

"She's going on and on about mystical energy channels, evil curses, stupid 'ooooooo'" Pecker fluttered his feathers fingers up in the air ostentatiously, "crap. Forget all that, I'm gonna sum this up quickly, because now you're cutting into my siesta time." I looked at Jak questioningly, and saw him giving me the same look. Daxter put his finger to his head and swirled it, sticking his tongue out, calling Pecker crazy. "Onin wants you to recover three artifacts from the Precursor Mountain Temple. Not two! Not four! _Three_! Use the Warp Gate at the northwest side of the city, and bring back the three items you find!" He finished, flying back to Onin's hat, closing his wings over himself and bowing his head. It was obvious neither were going to say more.

I sighed. "_Great. _Another mission." I threw my hand up in the air irritably and walked out the door. "When do we get a break?"

xMx

We made our way to a part of town we hadn't been to before, a secluded area with a few gardens and Eco wells. There was a big metal door directly at the back of the garden. That's where we were supposed to be going.

The door was an automatic one, which opened up to reveal a grassy cliff side that dropped off into an inky blackness. We veered to the right and jumped through the Teleporter Ring, reappearing at an area across the gap and up a good fifty yards.

We walked ahead, and again, we were greeted by another drop to nothing. To the right was what looked like an old Precursor temple with floating platforms and strange symbols everywhere. It looked vaguely familiar, but nothing specific came to mind.

We jumped across the platform and stepped onto the elevator that plummeted us to the ground. From there, I could see two paths, both of which were blocked by Metal Heads. Jak and I easily took out the two Metal Head dogs that ran towards us when we jumped off the platform.

"Hang on," I said, stopping and pulling out the mini map. I turned it on, and it shows us are whole area, with three blinking lights, two straight ahead, and one to the left. I looked to Jak. He pointed to the one on the left. The left it is.

We followed the left path down until we reached some frog like Metal Heads that were easily taken out with the Scatter Weapons. We climbed the few levels there was, and continued walking. We reached a flowing water fall with three mossy looking stepping stone across it.

We jumped across them, but I paused on the third on, cautiously leaning over to see where the water fall went to. It simply cascaded down into the blackness at the bottom, disappearing with distance. I shuddered. I'd never been one for heights.

I jumped over the two stones and ran to catch up with Jak and Daxter, who were waiting on another ledge. There was a grassy flooring about three feet down with a huge button in the middle and a cave with a huge rock blocking it off.

I followed Jak over, and the second our feet hit the ground, the rock in front of the cave exploded, and a screeching Rhino Metal Head came running out, wielding its horn around in dangerous patterns. The thing spotted us and barreled at us full speed. Jak and I both dove to the ground in opposite directions, and like we were in sync, we both flipped to our back and started shooting at the things head with our Blaster Weapons.

Neither of us seemed to be doing any damage though, so I rolled over and stood up, running a full circle around the thing to meet Jak. It looked confused for a second and reared up on its hind legs, screeching all the while. Jak automatically started shooting at the soft flesh of its tummy, unguarded by armor. That seemed to do the trick, but also made it madder. It landed on four feet again and charged at me. I dodged to the right, and it skidded to a stop, back feet scrambling at the edge of the drop off. It made it forward again, though, and reared up on its legs again, and Jak and I both got two shots in each before it dropped back down and charged again, this time at Jak.

He ran a full circle around the rocky edge, running it until it got mad and stood up on its legs again. We both got our shots in and the thing disintegrated in a poof of purple smoke, leaving only a skull and a few Dark Eco specs.

I picked them up as Jak jumped on the button in the middle of the clearing, causing a ledge to shoot out of the wall with a pop. We climbed up it, high fiving for the epic bull Metal Head battle before continuing on, climbing up more rocks.

At the top was another shield Metal Head. These were definitely my least favourite type of Metal Head, not that I had a favourite. It lowered its shield, shooting three consecutive shots at Jak, who jumped them. I shot it while its shield was lowered, hitting it. It lifted the shield back up in defense before shooting three more shots at me, lowering it again. I jumped and Jak shot, and then the thing died and we continued on, walking over three brown circular platforms that were too embedded in the dirt to do anything, and reaching a small circular clearing with three boxes.

The boxes just held ammo, but right when Jak opened the last box, the dirt around the three platforms gave away, leaving the three platforms suspended in air. They started moving around, one moving left and right, another moving front and back, and another moving up and down. All together they led up to a ledge that was previously inaccessible, which was pretty cool.

We followed it down, shooting a platform to make it flip, and reaching a thin piece of Precursor Metal that was moving back and forth in front of the wall, acting as a little bridge. Across it was another pod, but this time six little froggy Metal Heads jumped out at the same time. They were easily taken out, though, and we continued through the pond, over a platform that was submerging and reemerging from the water continually.

At the other side, about six Dog Metal Heads jumped down from a ledge, attacking us. One bit me, and I shot it through its mouth and out the back of its head, the arrow sticking in a space in between two rocks on the wall behind it. I looked to see if Jak had seen how cool that was, but he was too busy taking out the last Metal Head. I frowned. I wished someone had seen that.

I looked down at my arm, pushing my glove down from my elbow to my wrist. Those were teeth marks alright, but they were glowing a suspicious yellow colour. I looked at it, trying to will the Green Eco inside me to rise and heal it, but turns out I didn't have enough left. Maybe I could go Dark and see if that would heal it…?

"What's up, Maddy?" Jak asked.

"Got bit," I replied vaguely, still searching myself for hidden Eco stores. I was continually injected with it for two years! I had to have some left… Right?

"Let me see," Jak said worriedly, taking my arm and inspecting it. "Think it's poisonous?"

"Dunno," I responded, not really knowing what to do, still staring at the glowing teeth marks.

"I think I saw a box up there, let me go see if it has a health pack. He walked around the corner, leaving Daxter with me.

"Can I poke it?" He asked, already reaching his hand out to poke it.

I shrugged. He poked it. A sharp jolt of pain shot through me, spreading through my whole arm. "Mother_fucker!" _I cursed loudly. But, just as fast as it had came, the pain was gone. "Don't do that again."

Daxter nodded, running up my arm, reaching my face. He stared into my eyes completely calm for a total of 1.2 seconds before grabbing my face and yelling, "Don't step into the light, Maddy, _don't step into the light!" _before busting up in a fit of laughter.

I laughed with him. "I'm not gunna die, Dax."

Jak came back around the corner, clutching a health box and a few arrows. He tucked the arrows into my quiver, handing me the box. I held it in the hand of my injured arm, and the box broke open into particles that I absorbed.

I watched as the deep bites faded to a normal colour before healing, leaving nothing but a thin scar. "Cool," I said.

"You really gotta stop hurting youself," Jak said, holding back laughter. "You have at least one near death experience every day."

"Hah Hah," I deadpanned, examining the scar.

"Come on, I think I found the first relic." Jak said, running down the path. I followed after him, jumping up the ledges on the cliff and stopped at the edge of a pond with a building in the middle.

"There," Jak said, pointing to the brilliant white light inside the building. We made it across and slowly approached it, because, most likely, it was booby trapped.

The blinding light was actually a lens that light was shooting through to a small point on a platform. I hesitantly stepped onto the platform after Jak and Daxter, fully expecting something to fall down, blow up, and shatter.

"That's some peeper, huh?" Daxter said, walking to the middle and looking up to get a better look. Daxter started sniffing, and I just waited, holding back laughter. "Something's cooking? Hmm, kinda smells like..." he wafted the smell to his nose, freezing and turning around to stare at his tail behind him. "Burnt Ottsel? Aggggghhhhh!" He ran off the platform and around the room in circles, trying to run away from his burning tail or something.

As he stepped off, the platform started revolving in a slow circle, something descending from the ceiling.

"Eww, whoa, hot hot hot hot hotoo oo oo hot hot hot hot hot oh oh hot..." Daxter yelled in pain, still running.

The lens floated down and Jak reached up to grab it, inspecting it. It was just a really big lens. At that moment, Daxter fell down between my and Jak's feet, sighing in relief that the flame was gone.

Jak tucked the lens inside my backpack, and we walked out the opposite way we came in, coming to a ledge on the other edge of the pond with a floating platform. I silently pointed to the contraption directly across the way, knowing that's where we had to end up.

We stepped on the platform, and I was completely expecting it to take us straight to the machine directly across from us, but that would be too easy. It went down and to the right to an open hall with a few Frog Metal Heads. It was the same hall that had been blocked off by the Dog Metal Heads before.

We chose a random door out of the four, one of the two that we didn't know where it headed. It would take us to one of the relics.

Outside of the door was three shoot-to-flip platforms that were going up and down, creating a set of stairs. We followed them down, and landed in a clearing with a large button to the right and a blocked off cave. Déjà vu…

And, just like last time, a Bull Metal Head came barreling through the rock clocking off the cave door, rearing its head at us.

The Bull was easy to take care of now that we knew what we were doing and had a kind of system going, so we quickly took it out, pressed the button and climbed the ledges that came out of the wall.

Passed the ledges was a few more Dog Metal Heads that we took out. We walked over a crest in the hill, and I almost got hit by a rolling boulder. "The hell?" I question, following after Jak, who had already taken off up the broken up hill with the falling stones.

I reached the top just after Jak, panting. "A little warning next time?" I wheezed, clutching my sides.

He just grinned, not being able to talk through his heavy breathing. Daxter stood up on Jak's shoulder before falling back wards, his fur ruffled and windswept.

After catching our breath we followed the path up, no more obstacles in the way, until we reached the platform with the revolving bits and the weird structures that I had pointed out earlier. I let Jak and Daxter walk up to it, hanging back this time. This thing was going to do something weird, I could tell, probably explode, and I didn't want to be that near it.

"I bet that's the prize! They won't miss that one tiny gear." He took a small star shaped gear from the middle of the globe like statue. Jak seemed to have the same idea and we hung back, waiting. "Like candy from a baby!" He said turning away,

"Wait for it…" Jak said, grabbing my hand and threading out fingers together.

As Daxter scampered away with a huge grin on his face, the whole machine came to a stop and crumbled apart

The otzel paused. "No one will ever know we were here!"

Jak put his hands behind his head, watching the animal in a distressed way before shaking his head and pulling me towards the platform that was back. It took us back to the same hall as before, and we took the only door we hadn't been through yet.

We easily took the Dog Metal Heads out from afar continuing on. There was a ledge that we climbed up, it was under and archway, and the second we stepped under it, froggy Metal Heads started pouring from the ceilings in an endless streams.

They were really overwhelming, but we took them all out in the end. Right past them was another shield Metal Head with some steps behind it.

Over the ledge was another thin moving piece of Precursor Metal, but this time, under it was a _lake _of Dark Eco. I could just imagine falling in that… Jeez.

I followed after Jak, inching along, being careful not to fall in. There were a few more rocks to jump down, and then we were at the base of the lake. There was a small tin cube floating on the Dark Eco.

I hesitantly smacked the cube, and it unrolled one square forward.

"Mind games." Jak said simply. "You should do it. I don't want to mess up." I just shrugged. "No pressure." He grinned, shoving me gently, where I stumbled onto the tin. Thank Precursors that it floated. I smacked his shoulder before planning out my next few moves.

I pushed the box forward and made a flat path to the next cube, where I did the same thing again and again, and then one last time that connected us to the flat land.

I let out a sigh, "Well that was terrifying."

Jak laughed before jumping up the rocks onto the Precursor Platform where we could see a Bull Metal Head waiting.

We took up our system for a third time, him running, me shooting, then me running, him shooting. In no time, the thing was just a skull. When I picked up the skull, a gate connecting a building to the platform opened.

We walked through it, and entered a practically empty room, with a small, blue glowing shard in the middle up on a ledge.

Of course, Daxter started climbing towards it, so Jak and I just waited. He stared at the crystal suspiciously before poking it, then picking it up, where it immediately started shaking in his hand, moving him with it. "Wooooow. This puppy's got some vibraaaattioonn in it. This baby will put a smile on your face!" He said, still bouncing around.

I giggled at the innuendo, glancing at Jak who was already staring at me. I looked down. I heard him chuckle.

"Aaaarck," We heard through the transmitter, signaling Pecker was talking. "I can't believe you actually did this thing. Onin says she will search the time lines for answers about the sacred relics. I will find you later."

"You're kidding me," I said. "She doesn't even know what these are."

"Crazy old bat." Jak said.

**A/N: **_Okay, I'm going to apologise for this chapter, because it's really boring. Long, but boring. I would go back and fix it, but it's 4:27 am and I really should be going to sleep soon, I have to wake up in 3 hours. _

_I always really liked this mission a lot. Those falling rocks are fucking brutal, though. The whole mission kinda reminded me of the Precursor Legacy with all the Precursor things. Just me? Okay…_

_Since I already know how lame this chapter is, why don't you tell me what was your favourite and least favourite mission on Jak II just cuz im kinda curious._

_Obvious filler chapter is obvious._

**xMonster**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:** An Angry Maddy, a Sneezing Daxter, and an I Will Kill You, Praxis Jak ft. a Pushy Erol and a Disappointed Baron  
><strong>Music:<strong> One Step Closer, by Linkin Park

'_Nothing seems to go away  
>Over and over again<br>(Just like before)_

_Everything you say to me  
>Takes me one step closer to the edge<br>and I'm about to break  
>I need a little room to breathe<br>Cuz I'm one step closer to the edge  
>And I'm about to break'<em>

**Mood:** Irritated.  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like you're parents  
>-<p>

Now that we had enough skulls, we went to go see the Oracle again to get another 'power'_. _The Oracle could apparently sense us as we walked in, because it zapped us immediately when we stepped foot into the building, turning us into our Dark forms, and keeping us suspended in mid air by Dark Eco.

"The Metal Heads have always feared you, angry ones. Even now, the Metal Head leader realizes that both of you together can destroy him and save the last chance for our race. You both now have the control of another dark power!" It said, getting straight to the point. Then it zapped us both with Eco, leaving me writhing in the air from the pain.

I felt myself twist once more in the air before dropping to the ground. So I had a new power. I wondered how I was supposed to get it to work.

"Let the darkness flow through you," The Oracle said, as if reading my mind. Now that I thought about it, he probably was. But I did as I was told, and let the darkness take over, before I knew it, I was spinning about in the air, releasing massive amounts of what I looked like Dark Eco in little lightning bolts, zapping all the things in the room.

I looked at Jak who had his fist pressed to the ground, bracing himself as the darkness drained away. He looked up at me and how I was leaning against the wall breathing heavily, before saying, "You know, I like that move." He paused before saying, "I think we need to ask a favour of someone."

"Who?" I asked. I didn't like asking other people for help. We could do stuff on our own. People would always want something out of you if they did something for you.

"Vin," He said simply. "Remember what that mechanic said about the service elevator in the Palace? I bet Vin can get it working."

I sighed. He was right. So we made our way to the Power Station where Vin was frantically typing away at his keyboard.

"Vin, buddy, we need a favor." Jak said, throwing his arms out like he was happy to see him, then clasping his hands together in front of him.

"I can't help you with your eco bill." Vin said snippily.

"We need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers." Jak said harshly, dropping the whole 'buddy-buddy' thing. I liked this Jak better, nice Jak was weird.

"Sheesh," Vin said, running his hands through his hair. "that's part of the old B-Zone power grid? It hasn't worked for years."

"Well, if it's too hard for you, I understand." I said casually, turning away and subtly winking at Jak, who caught on automatically.

"Yeah, we get it. Power stuff can be tricky." He said.

" Tricky?" Vin looked offended. Good, I smiled. He made and irritated 'hmmph' before he started moving across the Power Station, typing at all sorts of panels and dealing with several buttons and triggers. "I could route the B-Zone conduit lines through the bypass grid," He said, running to the other side of the circular Station, "shunting past the eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series," He ran back over and pressed some more buttons, "then back through the outer wall indicator helix and across the resonant flux routes into the number five capacitor array." He hopped in a lift, moving up to one of the higher screen, poking around on it for a second before lowering the lift and racing it across the floor, over us, and to the other side of the room. "Assuming the circuits in the GX75B can handle the surge, I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto!" He exclaimed, dropping the lift directly in front of us, flinging his arms out. "You've got instant lift juice!"

"Vin, you're a genius!" I exclaimed, flailing my hands a little.

"Eh, actually Mar and Sylence were the geniuses here. People said they made most of this stuff long ago - the shield-wall system, the eco grid."

"Wait." Jak cut him off, "Who's Sylence?"

"Ahh resident scientist, inventor, fighter, girlfriend, queen person. She's kind of fabled, no proof that she was there, but a lot of people mention her in all the histories, talking of how she and Mar were never apart. That the Precursors granted them powers that only worked together. Some say that's how he died, they were separated for too long, that his power stopped working, or he just disappeared. Poof." He babbled before getting back to the point. "Anyway, to get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-Zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em!"

" That doesn't sound so tough." Daxter grinned.

"No. Except those power boxes are guarded by motion-sensing turbo cannons!" He said, making finger guns and shooting us frantically. "But, if you can destroy the cannons, and switch the boxes on, I can do the rest. I nodded and we started walking away. "Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!" He yelled as we walked out.

"Sketchy man, that is," I laughed before walking on.

There was a turret almost directly under the Power Station, just a little to the right. It proved easy to take out, not knowing which of us to shoot. So once it started shooting me, Jak ran towards it and smashed the turret and pressed the button underneath.

That alerted the KGs, though, and gave us an unwanted nuisance. KGs were really irritating. We took a Zoomer and flew around a few corners before we found the second turret, which was as easily as confused as the last one. This one shot at me too, so Jak took it out and pressed the button.

The next one was a few turns away, too, but the KGs made it a bit slower to get there. When we hopped off the Zoomer, we had not only the turret shooting at us, but the KG's. I started shooting arrows at the KG and hoped Jak could take care of the turret.

Of course he did, though, and we were on the Zoomer again in pursuit of the fourth turret.

It was a bit farther away than the last one, all the way in the Slums, but we took that one out too. I think we had lost the KGs along the way, because we weren't being chased any longer. Can I point out again how stupid they are?

Jak had to maneuver the Zoomer through the thin streets of the slums before we found the last one, which was almost all the way to the Water Slums. It, too, was easily taken out.

When we pressed the switch, Vin said, "Okay, the B-zone grid is back online. Have fun being _killed _in the petals." Over the transmitter, sounding nervous.

"Don't worry, Vin. I'll make sure you can't be connected to this in any way." I responded, jumping back up into the Zoomer as Jak took off.

The entrance was in Sector 3, the nicest sector, of course, and a good two or three locks had to open before we entered the elevator. Inside looked just as clean and shiny as the rest of the building. Weird, I had been expecting it to be old and dusty.

We took the elevator to the top, the platform vaulting upwards at a really high speed, leading to a room with a single door and _long _walk ahead on a windy looking platform-type thing. It looked really shifty.

The blades of the spinning wheels where electrified, so we had to jump over about three of those before we reached a red looking platform that was sparking suspiciously, and neither of us really wanted to test that out.

Luckily, there were two bar sticking out on the side that we swung on to get around the thing before jumping back on the platform and continuing on past another one that was identical to a turret that was shooting periodically. I shot it from afar with a Blaster Arrow.

Directly in front of the decrepit turret were a few spiky cubes, about the width of the platform we were on. They were all shifting in times, only one side of each cube remaining unspiked. We quickly jumped across those. I mean, who wants to get their feet stabbed by spikes, really.

Past that, there was another turret, and another electrified wheel. It was on a pipe, though, so it was too slippery to jump across. We had to jump down and under it, dodging collapsing platforms and jump back up, where there was another set of shifting spike cubes.

"Precursors," I exclaimed. "Can you imagine _Praxis _attempting to get across this?"

Jak chuckled. "I hope he falls." He said, before continuing over the spike-free square. I jumped after him. On the other end was two more electrified red square sections, and past that two revolving turrets.

There were four platforms sticking out of the building wall, so we jumped on them, and they led up to the roof of the building. It was raining but we could still see and hear through the skylight.

I looked down and saw the Baron, Erol and a flickery looking hologram of some sort of monster. "I've told you, I will have more eco by week's end. We'll transport it directly to your nest, as promised!" I heard Praxis's rough voice. I started growling without realizing it, my body already starting to flicker into my dark form out of anger. Precursors, I couldn't even hear his voice without wanting to murder a small town.

I couldn't _wait _until he got the revenge he deserved. This was all his fault.

Jak clamped his hand over my mouth to stop the sound, and rubbed a hand soothingly along my arm. My form stopped flickering as I looked in Jak's eyes and saw just as much anger there. If he could contain it, so could it.

"A deal is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron. I grow impatient with your puny gestures. Give me the agreed upon eco soon, or the deal is off, and your precious city will pay the price!" The monster growled before the hologram vanished entirely.

" He's toying with us!" Erol yelled, and I had to bite down on my knuckles to stop the darkness from consuming me. I really _really _couldn't stand Erol. "Let me lead an assault on the Nest before it's too late! I can take him!"

Praxis: Patience, commander. No one has ever penetrated the Metal Head Nest. You know that." Praxis said, facing the window. "I've seen what comes of such foolish plans." He brought up one of his hands up to his face, thinking. "No! Strength is their weakness... We play helpless... We train them to eat from our hands, and then..." he paused before resuming again in a much louder voice. "Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols. I want that Tomb found!"

"But your daughter has not been... agreeable." Erol said, bowing slightly.

Wait. Daughter?

" Agggg... I'll see to that problem. One way or another." He growled.

"Ashelin is the Baron's daughter?" I felt my anger drain away in the wake of my confusion, and I just shrugged questioningly.

"And find those _children_! If you'd spend half as much time looking for those little brats as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl, we would have pinned their royal asses to a wall long ago."

Daxter, who had been happily residing on my shoulder this whole time, apparently had to sneeze. Maybe my spike hair was tickling his nose. Who knows, but whatever happened, he started breathing heavily and making involuntary noises. I looked at him, begging him not to sneeze, but he did, and Erol immediately looked up and yelled, "What was that?" At the exact same time that I grabbed Daxter, pulling him to my chest, covering his mouth, and pushing back away from the window and on top of Jak, who wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me on top of him. I don't think any of us were breathing.

When Jak deemed it safe, he let go of my waist, and I slowly rolled off of him, taking a deep breath. Jak was giving Daxter a look that just asked, _'Really?'_

xMx

To our right was a ramp that we followed down and entered a clearing with nothing but an arch that was gated off with blue electricity.

Out of nowhere, a big red mech suit started rising from our left, inside of it being Baron Praxis himself. I growled again, my anger getting the best of me again, but I focused all my thoughts on Jak's hand in mine, taking deep breaths to calm myself.

So, we have a rat in the walls, do we? A rat and his boy and his pretty girlfriend it seems! Back for a few more Dark Eco treatments?" I heard Jak let out a snarl and I felt his skin get colder, and suddenly, holding on to my sanity seemed to be a whole _hell _of a lot harder. "Well, allow me to put you both out of your misery!" He yelled and started shooting at us.

As he shot, a green film covered the mech. I think it was a shield. Whatever it was, it went down when the suit paused to reload, and Jak and I both got one shot in before it was back up. Praxis flew behind us and started shooting. I had to jump to avoid losing my legs, but I still managed to dodge it and get a shot in.

"You can't hurt me!" He said, flying to our right and shooting again. This time, when the shield lowered, only Jak got a shot in.

Praxis flew over to the blue glowing ball on the electrified archway, maybe to recharge his shield, before flying back and shooting again. This continued on, shoot, get shot, recharge, etc. Finally, after one last hit, the mech sparked dangerously, and the Baron flew away, through the gate, leaving it open for us to follow.

He was waiting in a clearing almost identical to the one we were just in; deserted with an electrified archway on the other end.

When Praxis saw us, the mech turned it's hand towards the air and started shooting out missiles that shot to the ground in patterns. He was too predictable. After shooting two more sets of missiles, he went and recharged, before flying over and shooting another set of missiles.

And again, just like last time, the mech started sparking and shooting out nuts and bolts. The Baron went spinning away again, through the electricity and over to the next clearing, trying to fix his suit.

We followed after him and entered a different looking clearing. It was set in a rectangle shape with no electrified arch at the end, but instead up a big set of stairs and to the left.

There were two ledges to the left and the right, and a set of stairs in the middle that Praxis was on. He started shooting, vaulting towards us before stopping and setting off six little fire tornados.

Oh, that was a new trick. _Way to go, Praxis. _

The tornados spun towards us, but we were too far away for them to reach, and they puttered out before they could get to us. We shot him while he was distracted by putting down the tornados.

In typical Praxis fashion, he did this two more time, recharged, and then started just barreling the mech at me and Jak separately. Which was stupid, because we were so quick to defend one another, that his suit took it's last bullet in no time.

This time, instead of just losing a few bolts, the whole thing exploded, leaving the Baron in nothing but a pod, saying, "The dark powers I gave you can't protect you forever! Since I made you, I can destroy you! We'll meet again soon!" Before flying away.

"Yeah, _whatever." _Daxter said casually, fluttering his hand. "Bye bye."

**A/N: **_Hi, I'm tired. It's 6:14 am and I haven't slept yet. I don't know why I do most of my writing at ass o clock in the morning. Maybe that's why im such a terrible writer xD_

_Well I hope you like it. I really hope that I'm going to be able to go into the details of Sylence (guess who it is :P) In the near future._

_By the way, I'm basing this story off the theory that Jak grows up to be Mar. Just saying. Important point for the future._

_Also, I couldn't help but think how perfect the song for the chapter was :D Just saying._

**xMonster **


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:** That's home?  
><strong>Music:<strong> 27 by Fall Out Boy

'_If home is where the heart is,  
>then we're all just fucked.<br>I can't remember, I can't remember.  
>And I want it so bad, I'd shoot the sunshine into my veins<br>I can't remember, the good ol' days.'_

**Mood:** Disappointed  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

Once we got out, we made our way back to the Underground, actually, more like we _snuck _back to the Underground. Apparently, the Baron had alerted the guards, who in turn were actually _looking _for us. Shocker, I know.

So we had to take to the outskirts of the city and make our way across the tops of buildings. Apparently, taking a Zoomer automatically alerted the KG's who swarmed us, and it took up too much time to take them all out, so we snuck and walked.

Once we made it back to the Underground, we found Torn and Katie glaring at us fiercely. Daxter jumped from Jak's shoulder to mine and hid behind my hair, skittishly. Kor was herding both the kids to stay on one side of the table and to stop touching things.

"The city is on high alert." Katie said.

"What the _hell _did you do?" Torn barked.

" Us?..." Daxter asked, peeking around from behind my hair. "Nothing. We've been... ah... sightseeing, right, Maddy?" He poked my head, and I flicked him irritably. He jumped off my shoulder and onto the table, where Katie was entertaining the kids.

"Really? Then why are the Krimzon Guard looking for..." He paused, looking down and reading off, "a dangerous young man with light hair, blue tunic, a young woman with spiky black hair, red half shirt, and a rabid orange _rat_"?"

The little blonde kid smiled with wide eyes, pointing at Daxter. "Ahh... Could be anyone." Daxter said, before flinging his arms out and adopting a cheesy grin. "Orange _is_ the new black this season." I face palmed, shaking my head.

"Look, we've climbed up to the Baron's palace..." Jak started.

" and... we may tripped a few alarms." I finished, running my finger over the table. The blonde kid grabbed my finger in his tiny hand, pulling me towards him.

"Oh right... that too." Daxter trailed off. The kid grabbed my arm, standing up and pointing to my shoulder, bouncing a little. Oh… okay… kids… shoulder… piggy back rides. I unhooked my shoulder armor, throwing it on the table and grabbing the kid and setting him so he was straddling my neck. He immediately burrowed his face in my hair.

"What? I didn't authorize a strike on the...!" Torn started. No. He wasn't going to peg this on us.

"Hey. We don't have to listen to you," I sneered, walking back over to Jak, awkwardly patted the kid's head.

"We kicked the Baron's ass." Jak said before Torn could respond. Both kids looked up at him with wide eyes and Katie glared at him from where she was sitting on the ground playing with the brown haired girl. "Unfortunately, he escaped."

"_And,_" Daxter started dramatically. "We overheard a secret meeting with the leader of the Metal Heads!"

Every body's eyes widened. "You saw the Metal Head leader?" Kor asked.

"Not really." I said, "He was on some communicator, but we heard him talking with Baron Praxis."

"The Baron is bribing the Metal Heads with eco!" Jak said, slamming his hand on the table. I felt the kid jump and wrap his hand tighter into my hair.

"Hmmph... it will never be enough." Kor said contemptuously. I looked at him questioningly, but he schooled his expression before I could get a read on it, leaving me confused.

"But the Baron's gonna double cross 'em!" Daxter interjected.

"Is that so? Well our good Baron's wonderful 'charm' must have angered someone, because there's word from the Wasteland that Metal Head armies are on the move again!" Kor said.

"Why didn't you tell us Ashelin was Praxis's daughter? Isn't that kind of important information?" I asked, looking at Torn with a raised brow.

"Yeah," Jak agreed. "What's your connection with her?"

"That's none of your business!" Torn barked, "Since you've stirred up the wumpbee's nest, you, spikes and whiskers here need to get four of our people to new safe houses; shuttle each agent to a location they specify. Move all of them _without _any casualties. Don't screw this up." He said, turning towards Katie, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the little girl that was playing with the symbol on her necklace, and into the back room.

That necklace… It was Mar's symbol! Well, half of it. I thought back to Onin and her twirly air particles, and everything clicked. The two kids were the leaders everyone was trying to get on the throne. What the _hell? _They were just _kids. _They can't run a fucking city. They were _way _too young.

I turned away angrily, then I remembered the kid that was still playing with my hair, and kneeled to the ground to have him get off. He hopped off, untangling his hands and scampering off to go play with the little girl.

"Oh, you have such a _way _with kids," Daxter said in a sing song voice, pulling his hand to his chest and swaying slightly. "I'm sure if you didn't glare so much, and you know, stopped looking so angry, they would _love _you."

"Shut the hell up, rat." I said. Jak chuckled.

There was a two seater Zoomer sitting outside that Jak hopped into. I hopped onto the back of it, straddling the back of Jak's seat on the cold metal, holding on to the back of the seat, knowing whoever we were picking up was going to want to sit in the seat.

The first person was literally right at the end of the alley. He hopped in the car, and I handed him the open mini map. He punched in the coordinates of where he had to go quickly, giving it back to me. I put reached out and put it on the dashboard for Jak to see.

The KGs were still after us, and they started after us right when we got in the Zoomer, so, of course, we had a timer. The agent's new safe house was only a couple streets away, so once he got out we were zipping away.

The next guy was near the end of Sector 1, almost in Sector 2, By that time at least a half a dozen KGs were behind us on foot, and a few were in the Zoomers, so they all started running at us when Jak parked to let the guy get in. Almost before he sat down, Jak took off again.

I leant over to the agent, handing him to mini map. He punched in the coordinates and we were off, mini map in place once again.

"It's a good thing you're on our side," the guy said, patting my thigh before jumping out. The next guy was almost in Sector 3, and we had to cut back through the middle of Sector 2 to reach it.

The turrets were on high alert, and there was one just around the corner from where the next guy was. He got in the car though, and we took off, all surprisingly in on piece. The blast kept almost hitting me, and I had to press myself almost flat against the metal of the Zoomer so I didn't get hit. One time I actually had to dive into the small space in between Jak and the agent to avoid getting hit, almost kicking the poor guy, and shoving my face dangerously close to Jak's crotch.

He didn't notice though, thank Mar, he was too intent on his driving. Wouldn't that be a distraction? Your girlfriends face in you crotch.

I chuckled, pulling my feet towards me, curling my hands around my bare legs to form a ball, tangling my hands in the metal of my shorts, resting my head on Jak's thigh.

The last guy was literally a street over, so Jak had to make a huge loop and go back through the army of KGs to get to him. When he pulled up, I dove back over the seat and onto the metal, pressing myself flat, as the guy got in.

His safe house was in the Water Slums, all the way in the back. There were an excessive amount of pedestrians there, but Jak didn't seem to have a problem plowing through them, sending them diving to the side. The KGs didn't seem to either. I couldn't help but laugh when one of the people dove into the water to avoid getting hit.

"Good job," The guy said, getting out. "I'll make sure to tell the Shadow we're safe."

We took off, the KGs still following us, and the transmitter came out and Torn said, "The operation was a success. All Underground members are safe. Come back to the hideout. I have another mission waiting for you both that I'd like to go over."

We made our way back to the Underground. Torn was the only one there now, Katie, Kor and the kids must have left already.

"Scouts report movement in Dead Town. Creatures moving towards the Sacred Site. Just as before." Torn growled, getting straight to the point.

"What happened... ah, before?" I asked curiously.

"Metal Heads broke through the old city wall. We fought them, but then the Baron pulled back," Torn explained, shaking his head in disbelief, "leaving everyone outside the 'new barrier' to die. Only the Shadow stayed and somehow stopped the attack." Wait…

"And now you expect us to go out there again?" Jak said, voicing my thoughts.

"You catch on fast!" Torn said in a sarcastically proud kind of way, "If you prevent the Metal Heads from reaching the Sacred Site, the Shadow will be..." He paused, "_most_ grateful. He might even ask to see you." He smirked wickedly before taking out a new bow and a gun barrel.

"Hey, I'm probably wasting this, but here's a Vulcan Barrel for that pea shooter of yours." Torn growled, throwing the barrel at Jak, who immediately snapped it onto his morph gun. Then he tossed me the bow and a set of arrows, "Katie found that at Krew's. Said you might want it. Believe me, you're gonna need 'em!" He walked off, satisfied.

I grabbed the blue bow, testing the strings and aiming an arrow. I saw Jak doing the same thing, pointin his gun at the wall, testing the weight of it, smiling like a kid with a new toy.

xMx

We made our way to Dead Town again, and Torn was right, the place was _crawling _with Metal Heads. They were mostly just normal Metal Heads until we reached a set of rickety wooden stairs that went up and dropped down the other side to reveal an island where a Metal Head was throwing Dark Eco Bombs at us.

Jak sniped it from a distance with his Blaster gun on the way down the steps. There were two more on the next island over, across a few floating pieces of wood that were acting as stepping stones.

About a half a dozen scorpion Metal Heads jumped from their camouflage of sand when we jumped off the last piece of wood. Those were easy to take out with the Scatter Weapons, but it was made a little more challenging due to the fact that we had to dodge flying Dark Eco bits.

There were a few Metal Heads waiting for us at the top and into the old building, along with a Metal Head with a Dark Eco gun (since when do Metal Heads get guns?)

There was another around one corner, and another through a broken down hallway, both of which, we easily took out. We exited the building after killing 5 or 6 more Metal Heads, having successfully cut through the building. We continued along a crumbling path high above the muck, pushing a few Metal Heads into the water below us before we turned a corner. There were two Gun Metal Heads there, and a falling down building to the left of them.

Jak used his new gun on them as I continued on, freezing when I saw the sinister looking building. It… It couldn't be. I felt my jaw drop. Jak and Daxter were still hi-fiving grinning about the new gun. I silently reached over a tugged on the corner of Jak's armor, getting his attention. He and Daxter turned to look.

"Is that... Is that..." Daxter asked before shaking his head. "No, it couldn't be... that's not..." He trailed off in desperation.

"It's Samos's Hut." Jak said gruffly, walking forward. I wrapped my arms around his waist, knowing he needed to comfort, tucking my head on his shoulde, opposite to Daxter.

"But... What?... How?... When?... Where?... Why?" Daxter said, ducking his head down and covering his eyes

"We're in the future, Dax..." Jak said, his voice muffled as he turned his head into my spiky hair. He took a deep breath before saying, "This... horrible place... is... our... world!" almost disbelievingly, his voice breaking on the last word. I just pulled my arms around him tighter, holding back the tears I could feel.

**A/N: **_Hi… No one has reviewed on the last three chapters :C  
>Should I not bother with this story? I mean, if nobody likes it…<br>I know that an average of about 30 of you read every chapter a day, (The traffic grid says so) Is it not good enough to review? _

_I apologize for the shortness.._

_Please tell me your thoughts. I would love to hear them!  
>Feed the review monster!<em>

**xMonster**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:** Save the Environment!  
><strong>Music:<strong> Zero Percent by My Chemical Romance

'_I don't like being alone  
>Burn up these streets<br>Turn up the stereo  
>Synthetic animals like me never have a home<br>I'm not the one you will be walking through'_

**Mood:** Elated!  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents!

"Finally, we get to see the Shadow!" Daxter said as we pulled into the alleyway that the hideout was in. "What do you got to do around here to get noticed?"

Katie and Torn were waiting inside the door, standing shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed, blocking off whatever was behind them. "The Shadow has decided it's time to meet you." Torn said, eyeing us both up and down. "Don't know why."

Katie smacked his shoulder, smiling, "Shut up, Torn, they deserve it!"

"Why is that place in the old ruins so important to you?" Jak asked, getting in Torn's face a little.

"There's a powerful energy force at the old house. The Metal Heads are drawn to it." _Power source, huh? Well, I guess 'Ol Samos _was_ a Sage. That's got to leave some sort of Power Residue._ I thought to myself.

Daxter stood up on his tip-toes on Jak's shoulder, trying to see in between Torn and Katie to see what was behind them.

"No kidding? We used to know the guy that lived there." Jak trailed off. I wound my arm around his waist in comfort.

"So, you're the new recruits who keep getting into trouble." A man with white hair, a moustache and a moss covered log on top of his head said. Was that…?

"Oh no, not you!" Daxter said, grabbing his face in distress.

"Welcome to our humble Underground movement." Samos said warmly. "I am known as the Shadow, but you may call me Samos. And you are?"

"Sheesh Jak, we went through all that to meet his holiness, ol' log on the head, grandpa green?"

"Samos?" I questioned, walking forward slowly.

"Don't you know who we are?" Jak asked, putting his hand on his chest slowly. I could see the pained confusion in his eyes. I wound our hands together, sqeezing.

"Sorry kids... never seen you before... and I never forget a face... especially one that ugly." He said, pointing at Daxter. "Or hair that pointy," He pointed at me. "Or someone who looked _that _angry." He turned to Jak.

"So it begins..." Daxter said with a heavy, irritated sigh.

"Man," I complained loudly, running my hand through my hair. "Why is everybody pointing out my hair lately? It's not _that _spiky." I heard Katie giggle and Torn growl in irritation.

"It kind of is," Daxter said, jumping on my shoulder and warily pressing his paw down on my hair.

"How is this possible?" Jak asked, not getting distracted by my hair problems. "We came through the rift with you..." He paused, "into the future... right?"

"Yeah!" Daxter agreed. "You used to look older than dirt and uglier than a knotted stump." I smacked hi head because Torn was glaring at us. "What gives? Did you get a little nip and tuck while we were gone?"

"Listen," Samos snapped." I don't know what kind of twigs you've been chewing on, but I don't have time for this. We've got a Baron to overthrow, two _children _to protect, an invasion of Metal Heads to stop, and a city to save. I'd say the schedule's pretty full!" He stopped before saying reasonably. "Besides, I haven't gone through any rifts. I hate teleporting!"

"That's not what you used to say, 'ol green stuff." I grumbled under my breath. Torn growled at me quietly.

"Sure sounds like the ol' Samos." Daxter griped.

"Right now I need you to go to Haven Forest and root out a few Metal Heads." Samos said, ignoring the comments and jumping up on a table to stare at the news articles on the wall. "That forest is my source of power, but I can't protect it much longer. Chase down and destroy all the Metal Head scouts you find there. Good luck... and welcome to the fight!" He finished jovially. I sighed before walking out after Jak.

Haven Forest was through the Mountain Temple, so we had to cut through the Bazaar to get there. The huge metal gate opened when we stepped up, revealing two JET boards leaning against the wall inside.

I immediately grabbed the dark red one, yelling, "Dibs."

"Whoa!" Daxter exclaimed. "We get to keep 'em! I call shotgun!"

I laughed, "Dax you always get the same spot. You don't get a choice for shotgun." He ignored my comment, bouncing excitedly on Jak's shoulder.

I hopped on the JET board, skating it around the small room before getting off and putting it in my pack. I looked over to see Jak and Dax fist bumping, grinning. I shook my head at their childishness.

On the ledge across from the temple entrance was a floating platform that I assumed would take us to the Haven Forest. It look about the size of one person, though, so I jumped on Jak's back, kissing his cheek and yelling, "Carry me!" While wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, Daxter jumped, getting dislodged from his usual spot by my arms. He huffed before jumping on my shoulder.

I didn't know why, maybe it was the mountain air, not so much Eco Pollution, but I felt _good. _Like, not angry, I could focus on something other than just getting revenge on Praxis. The boys seemed to be sharing my feeling of elation, grinning as the platform took us through the middle of a mountain, stopping on the other end.

We got off, Jak and my hands connected, arms swinging. I felt really carefree. I hadn't felt that way in a long time… years, really.

Jak and I pulled apart, though, to try out the JET boards. They were totally badass.

We took our separate boards down a rocky ledge that dropped a good 10 yards, down to the middle of the forest. The JET boards hovered on water, so we went up the river, rather than down, which cut through another mountain.

The first Metal Head – a flying dragon-type thing – was just at the bass of the river, right by a water fall. Jak took off in chase of it, and I turned and went the other direction looking for another one.

I weaved the JET board through trees, flipped it over the river, and even passed Jak once, who was still chasing his, before I found the next Metal Head.

It glided over the ground smoothly as I took off after it. It went up a few hills, trying to throw me off, and I was suddenly reminded of a past life, chasing Lurkers to get their Power Cells. Now I was chasing Metal Heads to get their skulls. Yeesh, what a difference.

I did a flip over the top of the Metal Head when I got close enough, and it ran directly into me. I got it, and its skull, and went off in search of another one. The map showed me that there was another one just through a small rocky passageway, so I went through it.

There was three left, so I assumed Jak got his. The map showed me that he was on the opposite side of me, coming into the big clearing through the tunnel at the end of the river.

I found the next Metal Head on a ledge across a few stone pillars that I had to flip over. It took off when it saw me, and I chased after it. The dragon led me across a few rock slides that I had to flip over, and a fallen tree that I had to grind on, taking a big circle and going back to where I first found it. It only took two more revolutions until I caught it, just beyond the fallen tree.

I opened my map again to see that the last Metal Head was flying on the lake, but also the little blue J and the teeny tiny D were already chasing it, so I took my time to explore around the forest a little. The area I was in seemed to be some sort of meadow, with flowers and butterfly and everything. No matter how good of a mood I was in, I couldn't help but snipe the butterflies and Eco Birds with my arrows.

I took the JET board around, grinding on a few of the structures just because I could. There was what looked like it might have been a big wooden building just up on a hill. I wanted to go explore it, but just then, I heard the Transmitter crackle and Jak's voice say, "Maddy?"

"Yeah, I'm here." I responded.

"I got the last Metal Head, meet me by the river wh-" I heard him get cut off, then Daxters voice in the background, and then what may have been Daxter smacking the transmitter.

"Hi, Dax." I said.

"Hey spikes." He said. I heard Jak mumbling in the background.

"Okay stop it with the spiky hair jokes or I'm going to shut this off." I warned.

"But there so long and pointy." He said drawing out the word long. "You know what else it long an-" I pressed the button to end the transmission, laughing and jumping on the JET board to go meet Jak.

xMx

"Excellent work!" The Shadow enthused. "Come on back to the hideout. I have another task for you three." Samos said when I met up with Jak. How he knew when we got back together was beyond me.

So we made our way back to the city, but Krew contacted us on the transmitter before we could get back to the hideout, telling us of the KGs listening devices on the water that we had to get rid of with the JET boards.

"Doesn't that fat man have any other slaves to do his work but us?" I complained, jumping onto my JET board on the water.

"Probably," Jak said. "But were the best he's got. The rest probably blew themselves up or something."

"Or he ate them…" Daxter said.

"Who wants to bet this is timed?" I asked with a grin, pulling out the mini map. Indeed, there was a timer up at the top. I programmed the timer into my watch, and took off after Jak, who had already taken out two of the devices while I was distracted.

I went in the other direction, getting the ones, and only hitting a few bombs. I avoided the explosions, though. I reached the opposite end of the water port, and turned around before I heard a bomb go off. Jak must have triggered one of the bigger ones.

I laughed as I arrived at the scene, seeing two singed boys, floating in the water. Jak got back on his JET board when I pulled up. "You know this is timed right. We don't have time for your silly explosions." I mocked, taking off towards the devices on the left as Jak went to the right.

The rest of them were easy, and I met up with Jak and Daxter over near the Hip Hop. Daxter was still looking especially tattered, his orange hair black and poofy. Jak had lowered his goggles around his neck and was running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. I laughed at their disheveled appearances, wiping off the black smudge on Jak's cheek.

"Don't." Jak said, holding his hand up to cover my open mouth. I almost fell over in laughter.

On our way back to the underground, we cut through the Bazaar, after seeing the ridiculous amount of red dots gathered there, and a rather suspicious red-orange looking A.

And, just like we thought, in the middle of the main court, stood Ashelin and quite a few KGs. I glared at them. They just cocked their guns when they noticed me. I felt my hand twitch towards my bow.

"How's it riding in the hood, red?" Daxter said, jumping off the front of my hover board, where he had been sitting, walking up to Ashelin. A guard poked me in the chest with his gun when I tried to grab the rat, making me stumble back into Jak. I flexed my hand. I was just itching to get an arrow in that thing's head.

"Get out of the area." Ashelin said, almost worringly, pushing both of us back with her hands. "This is Krimzon Guard business!" She smacked the Guard's gun that had been pointing at me. "One of Vin's Eco Tankers is coming in from the wasteland, but the clearance transmission sounded fishy. The driver was scared. We're going to check it out. Just in case." She turned to walk away.

"How can we help?" Jak asked, loading his gun.

"I've got it handled." She said without turning around, staring up above the buildings in the Bazaar.

Just then, an Eco Tanker broke into the Bazaar and blew up, taking out all the guards in the area. I had to back flip and spin away to avoid getting hit by a stray bit of metal. I already had my bow out and loaded at the door of the Tanker.

"Ahhh! A Metal Head sneak attack!" Daxter said, as if we hadn't known by the way there were Metal Heads _pouring _out of the open hatch. I started shooting.

"Damn! It's just us! Help me take out all the Metal Heads!" Ashelin said, pulling out a mini gun and a knife from the holster around her thigh.

So we did. I started shooting from my new Vulcan bow, which allowed me to shoot arrows that split into four arrows, all trailing behind one another or to the sides of one another if I chose.

It wasn't a serious attack, easily dealt with in less than five minutes, but it was the fact that the Metal Heads could get in at all that worried me.

"Damn it," I cursed, kicking a barrel.

"We got 'em all! The Metal Heads are getting bolder every day. It's almost like they're testing our defenses," She rubbed her hand along her pistol, "like probing attacks. I've got a bad feeling about this." She finished, walking away without another word.

"Yeah... you're welcome." Jak said, almost in a 'What the fuck?' kind of manner.

She didn't respond.

**A/N: **_Yayyyyyy! Thank you for the reviews! You make me happy :3 I should ask for reviews more often. Ask and you shall receive? Hahah well, thank you all for reviewing, you made my dayy :D You also all kind of boosted my ego a little but still… Now you should all review on every chapter and I'll be a happy monster.  
>Anyway, I hope you like the chapter. I really hate the defending people missions. And gahh the one on the water always takes me <em>forever _to do.  
><em>

_Oh, BTW, a message to all you artsy people: Anyone want to make a banner slash cover for this story? That would be wicked. Message me, or just send it to me if you want to. Since I'm not really arty at all, im depending on you guys. If not it's going to stay a picture of Mikey Way, which I don't really mind actually because MikeyFuckinWay is rad as hell, but he has nothing to do with this story :0_

_So do as you please.  
>P.S. Mikey Way is the bassist for My Chemical Romance if you didn't know.<em>

_**x**__ahappy__**Monster**_

_****Now come on, write the review, see that little tiny box? Write something nice, it'll only take a couple of seconds. Please? For me? :3_


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:** Babysitting with a hint of Sabotage  
><strong>Music:<strong> Carpe Diem by Green Day (Anyone else heard the two new singles yet? They're rad.)

'_Breaking in a sweat,  
>Like a bomb threat,<br>Us your silhouette,  
>Faded out.<em>

_Nothing left to lose,  
>Detonate the fuse,<br>Another Break and  
>You fall out.'<em>

**Mood:** ALL THE JAK AND DAXTER BEST FRIEND FEELS BECAUSE AWWWW THEYRE SO CUUUTTTEEE!  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents…

We walked to the hideout, where Samos was standing outside with both the kids and a weird dog looking thing. The dog was chasing both the kids in a circle around us. I saw Jak watching them out of the corner of his eye.

"I want you three to escort the kids over to Kor at the Power Station. He promised to look out for both of them, and I'm just too busy to baby-sit right now. Oh, and take the Croco-dog with you!" He turned towards the Croco-dog, which promptly growled at him. "Oh, hee… heh.. isn't he sweet?"

Both the kids stopped to stare at us with wide eyes. "So what's their story?" Jak asked, gesturing to the kids.

"I found him just wandering the streets. But that amulet around his neck means he may just be the lost heir to the city. Well, he only had half of it. A few months ago, actually, just after you three started working for the movement," Oh. I remembered that. "We found her wondering around with the other half. She used to talk, but she refuses to now since he can't talk. Or won't. One or the other." He shook it off. "Take the kids and the mutt to the Power Station. Watch out for guard patrols and defend the kids at all costs." The little brown haired girl walked up to me and grabbed my hand while I wasn't looking. I automatically flinched out of her grip, surprised. She just stared up at me with wide blue grey eyes. Then the Shadow laughed. "Oh... and if uh you happen to lose the Croco-dog..." The dog growled again.

Both of the kids took off down the alleyway when he stopped talking. "Hey!" Jak yelled after them. "Kid! Wait!"

"Stop moving you little twits." I growled, pushing them backward from the Krimzon Guard that was running towards us all. They stumbled backwards, and I moved in front of the kids as Jak's blast knocked the Guard back.

Both children started running, the Croco-dog chasing after them.

"Wait!" I called after them, running.

"Come back!" Jak said.

At least eight or nine KG's started towards the kids and I had to sprint to reach the kids in time. "Stay behind me." I pushed them behind the wall Jak and I created, us both using the Blaster Weapons to keep the guards away, not moving until the wave was over.

The kids took off again, holding hands, chasing after the Croco-dog that seemed to be leading them. "Come here, poochey-poochey!" Daxter called desperately, trying to get them to stop running. They did, though, when a Krimzon Guard cornered them both. They both cowered in fear as it aimed its gun at them.

I wasn't in any fit state to get to them, being surrounded by guards and all, and I had to trust that Jak would be able to save them.

He did though, and I turned just in time to see him shoot over both the kids' heads, sending the KG sprawling, and growling, "Leave the kids alone!"

The both took off again. I ran forward and grabbed the little girl, who was lagging behind a little bit, and slinging her onto my back, letting her grab onto my neck. I really hoped my bows weren't digging into her back. I also hoped that I could still get my bows with a kid there.

"Kid look out!" Jak warned the little boy, blasting another KG over the kid's head.

Getting my other bows proved to be a bit hard, so instead of struggling, I punched the KG that was trying to get the kid off my back in the face, sending him reeling. "How do you like it when something fights back?" I snarled at it, taking off again.

There was a Zoomer waiting for us around the corner that Jak jumped into. I ran forward and scooped up the blonde kid and vaulted myself over a KG and rolling into the car, pushing the girl on my back into my arms practically onto of the other kid.

Right when I settled, Jak took off, yelling, "Hold on!"

Both kids grabbed desperately at the dashboard of the Zoomer, and I awkwardly wound my arms around them keeping them there. The Croco-dog kept trying to lick my face, not being very helpful.

I curled my body of the kids, keeping them both in a huddled ball in my lap as Jak flew through the Sectors, plowing through KGs and civilians alike.

Both of the kids seemed unaware of the situation we were in, one playing with the chains on my shorts, and the other tugging on my hair. I had to resist the urge to snarl at them when my hair got pulled too hard.

We had to get out of the Zoomer to get up the ramp and to the Power Station, so I unwrapped myself, letting the kids tumble out of my lap and run up the ramp, the Croco-dog bouncing after them. Jak went up with them to get the KGs up there, and I stayed behind, walking backwards, sniping off the ones coming after us.

"Maddy! Let's go!" Jak called.

I shot the KG closest to me before turning and running flat out to the open doors of the Power Station. Jak grabbed my arm to steady me as we stepped inside.

"That was a handful." Jak muttered into my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Let's never have kids."

"Precursors, you have no idea how much I agree." I mumbled back. "Thought those brats would never stop moving. They almost got dusted like three times each."

"Samos told us to bring the kids to you." Daxter said, from where he was walking with the kids and the dog. He fit right in. I voiced that thought to Jak, and he chuckled lowly.

Both the kids ran up to Kor, staring at him with wide eyes. Do all kids do that that much? "Thank you." Kor said. "I'll be sure to keep them close."

The dog slowly walked up to him, growling. I couldn't help but agree. There was something shady about this guy. "How sweet..." he said, turning his head up at the animal.

The dog stopped growling, though, when Jak stroked his head. It actually kind of grinned at him, lolling its tongue out, looking up at him happily.

"Interesting." Kor muttered, as if it actually _was _interesting. "That insufferable mutt never liked anyone but the kids before." The dog stopped smiling and barred its teeth when Kor got close, but let its tongue back out when Jak kept petting it.

"I guess I'm just good with animals." Jak said, kneeling down to properly pet the dog and looking at Daxter, who grinned at him. The Croco-god nodded, pushing its head into Jak's hand. I almost died, either from the laughter or from the sweetness, I couldn't really tell, so I ended up making a choked noise, fluttering my hand in front of my mouth uselessly.

"I hope we have enough eco to keep the Metal Heads at bay. During my travels in the deep Wasteland I saw some of the bigger ones. Awesome creatures." Kor said worriedly, glancing at the eco readings on the screen.

"We saw a big one coming out of a rift once." Daxter said, making claws out of his hand and stomping forward. "He was _uuuuuuugly_!"

"Hmmmmphh... I have some valuable information for you." Kor said, "The Baron is conducting an excavation at the Dig. He is still looking for that ridiculous Tomb." As he spoke, to Croco-dog lifted its leg up to piss on Kor's staff. I felt the right side of my mouth lift as a tried to hold in my laugh and look serious, unlike Jak and Daxter, who were looking at each other with the type of glee boys got when they saw something that should be gross. "Frankly, I don't believe it exists, but you might as well go out there and disrupt his operation just in case." He lifted the stick and shook it off with his nose wrinkle. "Knock down all the scaffolding at the site. That should set him back. Here is an Air Trail pass to get you out there."

The little girl came up to me and handed me a yellow pass, keeping her hand in mine until I shook it away. I flipped open the pass to see my picture and information. Shouldn't that have been like a massive giveaway? Like, here I am! With a security pass! It even had the 'Wanted! Dangerous criminal!' Warning on it. I laughed. I pointed it out to Jak, who just shook his head with a half smile, saying how stupid KG are.

We made our way to the Air Train stop at the bottom of the Baron's tower. The train wasn't there yet, so we had to wander around for a minute.

It pulled up, lowering the back hatch. We all stepped in, and the vehicle took off before it even closed the hatch in the back.

The ride was bumpy, you know, unofficial air travel and all, but we got there in one piece, and Jak and I immediately JET boarded down the small tunnel shaft to where the KG's were digging.

We arrived onto the scene of a mining operation to a small Dark Eco bomb to the right. It seemed that KG's had acquired flash bombs, in the form of Dark Eco. So instead of guns, they were throwing little smoking things. Kinda hard to see.

"You go right, I go left?" Jak asked. I nodded, getting on the JET board and going across the bridge next to me.

On the platform across the bridge was the first set of three suspension cables, and a few more KGs. I knocked them all into the lava below us, and grinded on the line, snapping the suspensions. There was another rail to my right with nothing on it, but I grinded across it to get to another platform. I checked my watch, 18 more cables to snap.

On the new platform, there was a few more KGs that I easily took out, and a box leading to a platform above it. I climbed the box and got to the level, where there was more KGs. They all threw their bombs at me, and I had to backflip away, flipping over the edge and hanging on with my hands.

I flipped back up to the top and knocked out the KGs and grinded along the rails. I checked the watch again; nine more. I grinded along another rail upwards, taking out three more, and reached a level and saw Jak grinding towards me taking out three more. We were at the top level, but there were three more suspensions still.

I looked around in confusion, and spotted the three almost at the bottom level. One of us must have missed them. I grinded across a rail and jumped, falling to the bottom level with a heavy thud. The JET board supported me though, and a spun in a side circle, shooting the four KGs down there.

Jak landed next to me, obviously having realized why I bailed over the edge before he could reach it, and grinded over the last three suspension cables.

The drill wobbled dangerously for a second, as if in slow motion, and every eye in the building, KG and Wastelander alike, turned towards it as it slowly toppled over into the lava, hitting some of the explosive barrels and setting off a huge explosion. We dove to the side, taking cover down the side of a hill, avoiding flying bits.

When the remnants of the drill stopped shaking, I saw Jak get up and peek over the edge, so I got up and stood next to him. There were no KGs left, just a bunch of scrap metal and gears on the ground.

We JET boarded over them, using some of them as jumps just because we could, and rode around the room to find the door.

We followed to tunnel upwards until we reached the service elevator, and waiting for it to take us back up.

Once it did, I saw that the air train was still there waiting for us with the hatch open.

Just like before, it took off at top speed before the hatch closed, reaching back to the city in less than five minutes.

We reached the city, and saw that Krew wanted us. I followed behind Jak, preparing myself to go blow something else up.

Fucking Krew, man.

**A/N: **_Okay hi ^.^  
>Does anybody else think baby sitter Jak is really cute in the actual game? Like 'Hey Kid! Wait!' shoots gun 'come back!' I laughed :P and omfg the part with the Crocodog was the cutest thing ever :3<br>…I think I'm getting too invested in this game._

_Sorry no interaction with the little girl, but she's Jaks little interaction, I'll try to show that more the way I did Maddy/Mar  
>Isn't Maddy just great with kids? Lol<em>

_I can't really think of anything else to say, except for to review and that the art/banner thing is still standing._

**xMonster**


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Daxter Misses Pants, I Miss Showers  
>Music: Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, by The Smiths<p>

'_Haven't had a dream in a long time  
>See, the life I've had<br>Can make a good man bad_

_So for once in my life  
>Let me get what I want<br>Lord knows it would be the first time  
>Lord knows, it would be the first time'<em>

Mood: Irritated  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents<p>

We walked into the saloon just as a KG was leaving. Its hand hovered over its gun when we walked in, and I snarled at it. The guard just walked past us.

"The Baron sent his goons to harass me as usual, 'ey!" Krew explained irritably, fanning himself. "Health violations. Bank taxes! Everyone wants a piece of me. Aaahh well!"

"Lucky for you, there's plenty to go around!" Daxter said, flinging his hands out.

"Destroying that cargo in the port was more important than you know, ey?" Krew flew away before continuing. "I've got a new project going, and I don't need anyone snooping around my shipments. Let's just say, if everything goes as planned, I'm going to corner the market in Metal Head trophies." He flew back towards us, laughing, his fat jiggling. I felt my nose wrinkle. "Anyway, I have another job for you two." Daxter huffed. "An associate of mine, Brutter, works with me in the forced labor trade."

"You mean the slave trade?" I asked with a raised brow.

"I prefer 'freedom challenged'. Lurkers are the city's low class labor." He whisper/wheezed behind his hand. "Brutter pays me handsomely to help him free lurkers and get them safely out of the city. Ahhh, it lifts my spirit to help those in need..." Krew trailed off before flying at us and shoving his face in between Jak and mine. "and I _need_ his money!"

"Lurkers? We don't like lurkers!" Daxter said, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest like a small child.

But you do like Weapon Upgrades, 'ey?" Krew tossed a black bow hook up to me, a fire range upgrade, I think, and some sort of blue device to Jak before continuing. "There are three Krimzon Guard Transports carrying Lurkers to a 'project' the Baron has outside the city. Take out the transports, and bring the three lurkers to Brutter's trinket stand in the Bazaar." The fat man flew away without another word.

We went out back and hopped in a sturdy two-seater. There was no way that a Lurker was going to be able to fit in the passenger seat, so it had to make do with the back.

The first Transport was in Sector Five, driving around the fountain. Jak and I switched seats because my bow wasn't going to do well in blowing open the metal bars. I moved the Zoomer so it was directly behind the Transport car.

"Stand back!" Jak yelled to the Lurker as he started shooting at the bars. They broke open and the whole Zoomer exploded, sending the Lurker flying. I maneuvered through KGs and Hellkats to get to him. He immediately jumped onto the back of the car, and I felt the Zoomer's tail end droop towards the ground a bit. I prayed to Mar that it would hold him.

I pushed the Zoomer to its limit, feeling weird driving and having Jak take out the KGs. I made it to Brutter's trinket stand though, losing the KGs on our tail.

The Lurker jumped off the back of the Zoomer, and I was off again, looking for the next KG Transport.

It was out in the garden, almost by the Mountain Temple entrance. Jak started shooting at it, and like last time, the Lurker jumped onto the back of the Zoomer, pushing it down.

I made it back to Brutter's, but there were still KGs after us, no matter how much Jak was shooting them, so we had to keep going, not even stopping to let the Lurker off. He just had to bail over the edge. I don't think it really hurt him though.

We had just gotten out of the Bazaar in search for the next Lurker when a KG got a hit in finally, making the car explode. I dove out the driver's side and Jak dove out the other. Just as fast, we were in another Zoomer, flying away from the blackened remains.

I turned a sharp corner, dropping zones down a set of stairs and gliding along the ground until we saw the next one. Jak used to Vulcan on it, and soon enough the Transporter had exploded and the last Lurker was on the Zoomer.

"Little orangey warrior!" Brutter exclaimed when we sidled up to the bar. "You have do great thing for Brutter and Lurker people!" He grabbed Daxter in his huge hand and started kissing him repeatedly.

Daxter spat and said, "No toucha the 'do'." While running his hand over his goggles and ears.

Brutter apologized, patting Daxter on the head clumsily. "You great guys! Brutter not forget! Brutter pay you back. You see!" The Lurker said, nodding frantically, staring at all three of us with wide eyes.

"Okay, uhh," Jak said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We gotta go. Stuff to do. People to blow up…" He grabbed my hand pulling me away.

I ran my hand through my hair, looking at Jak, who was nodding with a knowing half smile. He jumped into the driver's seat, saying, "By the way, you're never driving again."

I nodded without complaint.

xMx

Krew was waiting for us back at the saloon, with, of course, another mission. "Years ago," He started, flying towards us. "When I was an art 'collector', I hit the local museum to, mmmm, 'borrow' a famous statue of Mar and Sylence, the founders of Haven City. In Mar's hands, the statue held the Ruby Key to the city, an artifact of surpassing beauty... and of course, priceless worth, 'ey!"

"Oh! I just _love_ art!" Daxter said, jumping up on Jak's head and getting in Krew's face, who swatted him away like an irritating fly, which he kind of was, in a way.

Krew continued, ignoring Daxter's interruption. "While smuggling the huge statue through the Sewers, 'ey, a grueling rainstorm flooded the whole place. The statue and five of my best men were swept away!"

"That's terrible" I said sympathetically, almost disbelievingly, because he was _Krew_; he didn't care about his people. My respect for him just went up a few miniscule marks.

"Yes, a tragic loss." He said, shaking his head. "I've missed that statue ever since!" And there go those respect points. Back to negative sixty two. "The Sewers have been so full of water and Metal Heads that I can't get anyone to go down there and retrieve the artifact. But you two. You're special; you can do it!" He flew back, tickling his finger under my chin. I cringed backward into Jak's chest.

"Hey, what am I?" Daxter said protestingly, "Chopped liver?"

"Ohhh, don't I wish, mmmmmmmm!" Krew said, licking his fingers loudly. I gagged a little. Now, go down there, drain the Sewers, and find that statue at the bottom. Bring back the Ruby Key artifact, and it will open up doors beyond our wildest dreams, 'ey!"

"Great, more mucking in the mud..." I sighed heavily.

I felt Daxter jump on my shoulder and lean on my head, snapping my red goggles against my hair. "I hate to burst your bathtub bubbles, baby, but that ain't just mud down there." He said. I sighed heavily again.

We left and made our way to the sewers, JET boarding over KGs and civilian and grinding off the bottoms of cars. Didn't I just feel like an obnoxious teenager.

The Sewer entrance was just inside Sector 4 with an elevator to get down. There were no Metal Heads this time, and that made me a little suspicious, but I guess our extermination earlier worked pretty well.

We had to JET board up a long meshed platform through a tunnel I hadn't noticed before to get to the drain pipe.

The first valve was just at the end of the tunnel, and I twisted it, watching as the water drained.

"How many of these things are there?" Jak asked. I just shrugged, getting back on my JET board and taking off down the newly revealed tunnel.

The tunnel opened up into a big room with several red, flashing water mines sitting on the surface. Jak and I flipped and spun over those, being careful not to touch them, making our way around the big pole in the middle of the room to the open door on the right.

If I looked hard enough there was an entrance under the water almost directly to the left, and I assumed that that's where we had to go next.

There were all sorts of water bombs and spinning machines sticking out of the walls for us to avoid, and after only two close calls with some mines, we were in the room with the second valve. Jak spun it. I noticed that Daxter was avoiding it, and I thought back to the last time we were near some valves, and smirked.

We made our way back down the hall once the water level dropped again, this time dodging all sorts of water rudders that were spinning and randomly popping up. I almost hit one because I didn't think it would come up that fast. Daxter had to grab the back of my hover board from his spot on the front of Jak's so I didn't run into it.

I was right when I thought that the next room was where we had to go. There were all sorts of spinning gears on the water that we had to flip over, and a bunch more water mines. The tunnel opened up into a room filled with water and at least six more water mines.

I watched the water drop when Jak hit the valve, finally reaching the floor, the mines going off when the touched the ground.

There wasn't anything on the floor back the way we came, except for a few mines that had survived. We dodged around those and made our way back to the main room, which was void of water now, and went through the only door left. The only thing to dodge there was a few divots that were still filled with water.

The statue of the two stood strong, not showing any signs of water damage. Jak and I stood in silence, looking at the statue. Both of the people looked vaguely familiar, but I brushed it off. I must have seen a picture of them before.

Daxter interrupted the quiet by jumping onto Mar's arm and tugging on the key on the stone on his scepter. He pulled on it a few time until there was a metallic snapping noise and the ruby key went flying.

Jak lunged away from me, almost diving to the floor and grabbing the artifact just before it hit the ground, straightening up and admiring the thing. I had to admit, it did look pretty. But of course, Krew was going to sell it. I couldn't help but wonder who was going to buy it, and what they were going to do with it. I wondered if Praxis was going to get his hands on it, and why he hadn't had it before. He _was _the ruler of Haven.

"Whoo... Got it!" I heard Jak say when I shut my brain up long enough to listen to what he was saying. "Where would you be without me, eh Dax?" He held up the key, winking.

"Well Jak," Daxter started, counting out his problems on his fingers. "I probably wouldn't be two feet tall, fuzzy, and running around in a sewer without a pair of pants..." He paused, looking down at his bare legs. "God I miss pants." He concluded sadly, his arms hanging at his side as he blinked.

"I'd give you mine Dax," I said smirking. "But I don't think you could hold up this much chains and metal.  
>I fingered the chains hanging from my ripped skin tight jeans.<p>

"If you weren't wearing them, I wouldn't think _anybody _could hold up that much chain." Daxter said, jumping on the ground and pulling on a chain. "That can't be _light._" He stressed.

"What I do for fashion," I said sarcastically, shaking my head.

"Oh yeah," Jak said with a wicked grin. "Because we're just top of the fashion in Haven."

**A/N: **_I actually don't have anything to say… so this Is a really pointless announcement, and you're all just wasting your time reading it. Go on with your lives._

_Only after reviewing._

**xMonster**


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:** Katie Makes Me Want to Go on Killing Sprees (Which I Do)  
><strong>Music:<strong> The Only Hope For Me is You by My Chemical Romance

'_How would you be?  
>Many as after the disaster that we've seen<br>What we have learned  
>of all the people burning in purifying flame.<em>

_I say it's okay, I know you can tell  
>And though you can see me smile I still<br>Think of the guns they sell_

_If there's a place that I could be  
>then I'd be another memory<br>Can I be the only hope for you?  
>Because you're the only hope for me'<em>

**Mood:** Angsty  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

"Ahh, we've still got trouble at the Strip Mine." Vin said. He had used to communicator to tell us that he _really _needed our help, so we went over to the Power Station as fast as we could, only to find Vin puttering around, jumping at every slight noise. I thought he was going to have a heart attack when Jak coughed to announce our presence. "I think the Baron set me up. Actually... ah, ahh, I think everybody's trying to kill me!" Vin panicked, running over to his keyboard and typing frantically.

"What are you talking about?" Jak asked disbelievingly, his voice cracking slightly.

"Dude, take some anxiety pills and chill," I said, running both of my hands through my hair.

"Those eco wells the Baron had us drill?" Vin asked, not acknowledging my comment and never turning away from his computer. "It seems he never intended to pipe them into the city grid. It doesn't make any sense! You know, open eco wells will attract more Metal Heads!" He yelled, hiding behind his computer, hands over his head. He turned towards us and grabbed my shoulders, shaking them frantically, continuing, "You've got to close them off!"

"Whoa, Vin, calm down, we've got this." Jak said reassuringly, pushing on Vin's shoulder, who seemed to be frozen in place, arms still locked on me. He let go, and I ran my hand through my hair again, blinking, trying to get my bearings back.

Vin snapped back into action, running across the room and coming back with a crate full of what looked like bombs. "Now, these plasmite bombs should do the trick." He threw the box at Jak, who caught it shakily. Must've been heavy. "Drop one into each well, eh, and the blast will do the rest." Vin wiggled his eyebrows, eyes twitching a little bit.

Jak lost his balance with the box, stumbling backwards a little bit, one of the bombs falling out of the box right into Daxter's hand, who juggled it around a little bit to catch it, but did.

Jak fell back a bit more. I reached out a hand to steady him, and he braced his shoulder against my chest, pushing back up.

"Hey! Be careful with that!" Vin protested.

"Plasmite, huh?" Daxter twirled the bomb in his hand smacking it a little. "Cool. How does it work?" He asked, pressing it together.

Apparently, like that.

The bomb activated, clicking open and revealing a flashing red light.

Jak and I watched in disbelief as Daxter and Vin juggled the bomb back and forth. "Agghhh! I believe this is yours!" Daxter tossed it to Vin.

"Hey, not my problem anymore." The scientist threw it back.

"No. Really. I insist."

"Hey. You're the hero!"

"No! They're the heroes!"

The otzel threw the bomb back at us, and I tried to reach around Jak, who was still leaning heavily on me, to grab it, but I just barely missed, and the bomb dropped into the crate, setting the rest of them off with the pressure.

"Dax!" I complained.

"Oops. Sorry. My bad..." Daxter responded sheepishly.

"Great! Now you've armed the whole lot! Don't move!" Vin stuck his hands out to Jak, pausing a split second before thinking better of himself. "On second thought_, MOVE_! Far away! Go through the portal and drop one bomb into each eco well before they all go off!"

"You only have two minutes!" Vin yelled as we ran to the portal.

Just then, Katie burst through the door yelling, "Maddy!" Making us all freeze, precious seconds ticking away.

Vin seemed to think better of the moment, ushering Jak and the bombs through the portal, practically pushing him through.

He looked back at me one time before being pushed through the Teleporter Ring, his eyes asking me if I was okay. I shrugged, wiggling my eyebrows and opening my mouth a little in a way that said "I'll figure it out."

I turned to the panting girl at the door, "What?" I asked harshly, glaring. I was already worried about Jak and Daxter. What if the bombs blew up and I wasn't there to save them?

"Torn said that Krew said that Brutter said that he _really _needs to talk to you," She said.

"Brutter?" I asked confusedly, my façade dropping.

"Yeah. Brutter," She responded, grinning slightly. "Now let's go."

"I can get there on my own," I growled. "I don't need an _escort._" I sneered the last word.

"Whatever," She said, slightly crestfallen, but still waiting at the door for me to go through. I glanced at the Ring one more time, still debating on going through it after them. Brutter could wait…

I felt my body turn towards it in my second long hesitation, already turning towards where it knew Jak was. Katie grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door, surprising me, which was never a good thing. I snarled loudly, my form already flickering to Dark. "Don't. Touch. Me."

The girl backed away slowly, arms held in front of her, fear coming from her in waves. I was glad Vin couldn't see me, he was already terrified enough.

I took a deep breath, thinking of Jak, and calmed myself. I ran my hand through my spiky hair one more time, exhaling, before grabbing my JET board of my back, jumping on it and skating out the door, past the irritating girl that my mind was still at war about killing.

I wasn't myself, I couldn't act right without Jak around, it almost physically hurt, and even after just a few minutes without him, I was already feeling way angrier than I usually did. I was already ready to go murder a small town, maybe bigger.

I rode the JET board around for a while, calming myself down more, thinking of how dependent on Jak I was. My mind flashed back to the Oracle, talking about how Jak and I balanced each other out, how we were the only hope for saving each other. I knew that if I didn't have Jak here, I wouldn't be able to function, I would just be an angry killing machine. I would willingly let my dark side take over. I didn't like that thought.

I found myself already in the Bazaar when I finally came back to my own mind, so I maneuvered my way to Brutter's stall in the back, still trying to push away the menacing thoughts and bad feelings. I was a mess.

"Spiky warrior!" Brutter exclaimed when he saw me, grabbing my face in his big Lurker hands and pressing big wet kisses to my face. I held back a snarl; why was everyone so touchy-feely today? Especially now, when I was really on edge. "Where is little orangey one? And brother Jak?" Brutter asked when he let go, looking around my shoulder as if they both were hiding there.

I felt my eyebrows crease together, "I thought you only needed me?"

"No, no!" Brutter protested. "I ask for three!" I sighed heavily, closing my eyes; I could be with Jak right now. This was pointless. "You is okay, spiky one?"

"Yeah, Brutter, I'm fine." I said, my tone sharp. I actually liked Brutter, I felt bad for being mean to him, but I was very temperamental right now. I missed Jak. It hadn't even been that long.

Well, you do." Brutter said, nodding. "So, I hear you look for a piece of Mar's shiny seal, yeah?"

I looked up at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Yeah…"

"Brutter have shiny, bright things too!" The Lurker said excitedly, clapping his hands, his glasses falling crooked. "I have piece, I thinks. It in Water Slums, hanging over me hutt! And you free to have, gift from Brutter!" He looked at me for approval.

I felt a small smile push its way onto my lips. "Wow… Brutter, that's rad," I said, quietly, "Thank you so much."

"Oh yes, spiky Maddy, gift! You have!" Brutter said, pulling me into another hug. I even awkwardly wrapped my arms around him a little bit.

I pulled away, there was only so much I could take, thanking Brutter again before getting on my JET board and riding to the Water Slums.

I had to rid on the water so I didn't actually hit anybody unnecessarily while getting there. I didn't even pick a fight with the KGs.

On the wall outside of a hutt in the very back of the Water Slums actually _was _a piece of Mar's seal. I grabbed it as Brutter came on the communicator.

"That is it. Piece of seal, yes? Nice and shiny, huh? All yours!" Brutter was a rad Lurker. And I used to think all Lurkers were bad. "Uh-oh," he said, getting my attention back to what he was saying. I think red troopers approaching!"

I looked up, and indeed, there were all sorts of KGs coming towards me, dropping from an Air Train. 'Brilliant. Just what I needed. Literally. I grinned that wicked half grin that meant nothing but trouble, saying "Thanks Brutter, see you around," Before shutting off the communicator and pulling out my Scatter Bow.

I ran towards the first wave of KG's letting arrows fly. They were all talking, telling me to surrender, to give up the artifact, that I was outnumbered, etc, etc.

I just shot at them, reveling in actually letting my feelings go. I turned a corner on the wooden path, reaching an intersection, both sides blocked off by incoming KGs. I pulled out the Vulcan Bow letting arrows fly at a rate that was inhuman. But I guess, I was inhuman.

Before I knew it, I was walking along again, waiting for the next KG road block. This was fun.

The KGs started dropping faster, and then I was surrounded. The weapons weren't enough, so I gladly gave myself over to my Dark side, loving the sinister feeling.

I started scratching and shooting Eco at all the pathetic Guards around me, who still thought they had a fighting chance.

I vaguely noticed the eco that was usually a bright, electric blue, was now laced with a purple, murking the colour. It looked cool. I'd worry about it later. All I had to focus on now was killing.

I ran my claws through another set of guards, feeling every second as they tore through the thin armour that the KGs actually thought would protect them.

The cops were still shooting at me, but I couldn't even feel it, the lazers bouncing off me harmlessly. I tore my claws through another attacker. One tried to get me from behind, so I leant my head back and head butted him with the sharp horns on my head. I think I broke my goggles.

I kept tearing apart the guards until I felt the Eco draining from me. The mind numbing feeling that came with it was going away too, and soon my thoughts were coming back, which kind of sucked. I really needed Jak.

I was close to the end, though, so I just shot at the few remaining KGs and JET boarded up the rest of the wooden ramp, making it to the glowing yellow circle.

"You good!" Brutter exclaimed when I passed through the light, my mind fully back, well, as back as it would be without Jak being there. "No better warrior in _all _Lurker tribes! You keep seal. You love shiny things, _just _like Brutter!" I could practically picture him nodding quickly.

"Gee thanks." I said flatly, shutting off the transmitter. I felt really drained, I felt sick, I still felt angry, even after my little killing spree.

I dragged my feet walking back to the Power Station, but perked up a little bit when I knew Jak would be there. Jak would make me feel better.

The doors slid open silently, but no one but Vin was inside. I felt myself deflate the little bit I had let myself inflate, sinking to the ground in front of one of the computers, letting my heads fall to my hands as I crumpled up into a small ball.

I heard the Teleporter Ring make a noise, and I peaked my head up over my hands, seeing Jak, who looked as miserable as me, and Daxter jump through. I brought my head up all the way as Jak saw me.

He full out ran, scooped me up in his arms, rolling, and taking us out the door.

I was wrapped in a bone crushing hug, squeezing back just as hard, feeling all the bad feelings drain away. Well, to an extent; just to what they had been to before. At least it was a manageable level again.

I felt Jak lower his face into my hair, breathing in deeply, and I felt myself calming down when I felt his pulse thrumming steadily under my cheek.

"Please don't leave me again," Jak asked, almost begging, his voice cracking.

"Never," I vowed.

**A/N: **_I was going to write a kissy/romantic/get back together scene, but I'm really really tired (It's 6:30 and I haven't gone to sleep yet O.o) so I'll just leave that up to your imaginations…_

_Oh, and a little author's message to LadyAmazon if she's reading this: Oh my god. You're my favourite. I just wanted to say a personal thanks because you've reviewed on almost every chapter and I thought that was really cool cuz I absolutely love your input. So cookies for you C: (Oh god the Sewer Missions with the five guys. I hated that mission so much. It just drove me up the walls, especially when I would get stuck on one part, and you would have to hear their commentary over and over and __**over**__Ack. Another one I really really didn't like was the one that I skipped on this chapter; the one with the Eco Wells. I could never get Jak to put the bombs into the wells, I think I almost decided to use the disc for target practice when I was little, it was that frustrating)_

_Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the little break from the norm, lot's of angst and no Jak around to make the angst go away :(_

_Review :D_

**xMonster**


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Guns Still Aren't Maddy's Thing…  
>Music: Siva by Smashing Pumpkins<p>

'_I spin off and lose my head  
>Throwing stray a spark instead<br>Gather strength down in my hell  
>And dig it in the world I peel'<em>

Mood: Scorched  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents<p>

Jak and I walked back into the room, arms wrapped around one another, as close as possible, to see Vin pecking on the keyboard, babbling on about Metal Heads, and Daxter wondering around, poking things.

The otzel jumped when he was us, running to land on Jak's shoulder, saying, "What a brainwreck! Precursors am I glad to see you two love-birds. Vin sure is scared of Metal Heads."

"And for good reason. I've seen what Metal Heads do when they take a city." Kor said, walking into the Power Station. "The destruction. The killing. The devouring. The Baron's scheming will only result in this city's falling prey like all the others before it. We must replace Praxis before it's too late," I saw Daxter shaking his head, eyes on the ground. "I am happy to say that you, the girl, and your sidekick are causing quite a stir in our fight against the Baron."

"You hear that Jak?" Daxter asked gleefully. "You're the sidekick!" He looked and saw Kor fixing his robes. "Hey, uh, wise and whiskered. You, uh, got something itchin' under your robes? They have ointment for that you know…" He looked him up and down with an arched brow.

"It's just my aching bones," Kor wheezed sadly, before straightening up and putting his hands on his hips. "We have word that the Baron is sending out one of his large tanker ships and to the Drill Platform to pick up a load of ill-gotten eco. Go out to the Drill Platform through the Warp Gate,"He instructed. "and knock out that ship! The Shadow will send a team from the Underground to pick up the eco later. Keep up the good work. We're counting on you!"

Kor walked away to go talk to Vin, so we went to the Warp Gate and jumped through. We ended up in an open ended room. It looked like it was somewhere near the Platform, and I could see some sort of moving turret just to the left, with an electrified gate in front of it, blocking off the track.

Jak hopped into the turret, and I hopped in his lap, his arms wrapping around me to get to the controls. Jak hit the button to make it go, and the things started moving forward rather slowly. A KG in some sort of flying turret came out at us. Jak shot at it, hitting it after a few turns, and the thing went down, only to be replaced by another one.

That one blew up, but two more came out this time. I leant off to the side, pulling out my bow, knowing it would probably be useful, sending a Vulcan Arrow towards one of the flying turret KGs, blowing it up.

The turret approached the corner before the next gate, not turning fully, but stopping almost all the way around it. A ticker appeared on the computerized screen, with a picture of a KG turret with the number 40 under it. It went down to 39 when Jak hit another KG, then going down to 38 when an arrow hit home.

Three turrets came from the bottom, three from the top, and I went straight for the ones at the bottom, Jak went for the one at the top, the ticker going down to 32. I watched as the counter kept going down, Jak and I working together to slowly bring the counter down to zero, shooting rapidly to keep up with the number of KGs that kept approaching.

The Guards started coming from all sides, and I got just a little bit frantic, the troops coming in groups of four and five, but we ended up taking out the rest of them, the counter finally ticking down the zero.

The train stared moving again, the gate opening and letting us through. It reached the end of the track, so we got out and hopped into a new one on a new track with a new electrified gate. I settled on top of the turret this time, looping my legs under the metal bars, strapping myself in as best as I could. I knew it would be easier for both me and Jak if I wasn't sitting the way I was before.

The train started with a jolt, and I fell forward a little bit, but locked myself in place by looping my feet around the metal bars and sitting up straight. I hoped this train wouldn't go any faster than the last one had, because then I'd be in a little bit of a sticky predicament.

A few flying KGs came at us, but not that many, and I was confused until we turned the corner and saw the huge rising Eco Tanker with KGs flying off of it.

Oh.

I tried plucking off the flying KGs, but my arrows weren't fast enough, and we were gunna be dead if I didn't think of something soon. Jak was too preoccupied in hitting the Tanker to be able to help me. I knew we couldn't switch either, because my arrows wouldn't do much to a metal machine.

_Fuck this, _I thought, blowing up the nearest KG before reaching down through the metal bars to Jak. He looked mildly distracted as I snaked my hands to his front and unhooked the leather strap there, and went behind his back and took his gun, tossing my leather strap full of bows down to Dax, who caught it, holding them gingerly. It all took about five seconds tops.

Jak looked up at me with a kind of sad surprise for a split second before turning his attention back to taking down the Tanker. I just loaded it and twisted it to the Vulcan Mod, machine gunning the swarming Metal Heads. The weight of the gun was foreign in my hands, and I didn't like it much, but this was Haven City, I didn't have time to think of my immature aversion to guns.

I shot more, bracing myself from the kick that I definitely wasn't used to, taking out all the flying turrets that had replenished themselves in one large spray of blue bullets. Once I seemed to have taken out the supply of guards the Eco Tanker seemed to have, I turned the rifle onto the machine itself, or rather, the turrets on the machine, helping Jak take them out.

Eventually, the thing exploded in one mighty poof, falling from the sky slowly. I watched it go, attaching Jak's gun to my Weapon strap and slinging it behind my back. I still didn't like the weight. It was _way _heavier than I was used to.

Our train turret started moving us again, pushing through the now non electrified gate, and stopping at the end of the track. I hopped off the top, going to the boxes on the side and replenishing ammo for both the guns and the arrows.

I looked to see Jak hooking my bows around on his strap, and I couldn't help but let out a half smile when I saw that. "It's like we've switched places." I voiced.

"Yeah," Daxter said, "Next thing you know you're hair'll go blonde and you'll turn into a speed demon with a penchant for hitting people."

"I like your black hair." Jak said, threading his fingers through it. "So how're the guns? Great, aren't they?" He asked with a smirk.

"Uhh," I said, my nose wrinkling. "Bit too much kick."

He chuckled. "You get used to that. Yours are too light."

"You get used to that." I mocked.

xMx

The next train turret was up on a ledge, and I could already see another Tanker rising from under the tracks. I pulled out Jak's gun, twisting it to the Blaster Mod, easily sniping the KGs already coming towards us from behind. I had to admit, it was more convenient to just twist, rather than to have to pull out a whole other weapon.

The flying ship stopped next to us, turrets at the top of the thing coming out and shooting at us. Jak got those, and I got the multitude of KGs coming from the belly of the ship.

And, just like last time, the supply of Guards ran out, and I started sniping the turrets that Jak wasn't getting, speeding up the process.

Jak and I never went for the same gun, and that made it a whole lot easier, not having to be all confused about who's gunna go for what one. We were too attuned to one each other to do that. Sometimes I felt like I could still see in his mind. I mean, I knew he could hear my thoughts if he tried, but I couldn't hear his, or feel his emotions any more. It was still really sad; I had liked that special bond that we had had. I guess the Dark Warrior program eliminated that from one of us…

The Blaster ran out of ammo, my fingers clicking on empty, not shooting at the KG that was flying at me way too fast for comfort. It got to me before I could switch the Mod and situate again, so I ended up just smacking the thing with the butt of the gun. Crisis averted.

Soon, the Tanker went down in flames again, do to Jak and my combined shots, and the train was moving again, pulling through the gate and up till it was practically directly in front of a Warp Gate that I figured would take us back to the Power Station, and whatever mission we were needed for next. Sometimes I just felt like a pawn.

"You've all proved to be quite the asset!" Kor said, kind of proving my thoughts, "Without Eco, the Baron will soon topple. The city's future will be in our hands!" He sounded really excited…

The communicator went away as we ran through the Warp Gate, landing back in the Power Station. There was nobody there, though, so we left.

I finally unhooked the uncomfortable weight of Jak's gun, and handed it back to him gingerly. He gave me back the strap of bows, and I kind of awkwardly cradled it to my chest, wrapping my fingers around one of the bows for the familiarity.

We headed off to Krew's, not because of the symbol, but because of the people the mini map was showing were there. Katie, Tess, Sig, and Krew. I would much rather talk to any of them than say Torn or Kor, who were both at the hideout with the Shadow. Wasn't very fond of 'Ol Green Stuff myself, old or young.

We walked inside the saloon doors, and I was greeted by large armored arms wrapping around me.

"Cherry!" Sig exclaimed, lifting me up into the air, swinging me a little bit.

"Ahh Sig!" I whined. I was proud of myself for not flinching at the contact.

He put me down next to a laughing Jak and Daxter. At least Jak was trying to conceal his laughter behind his hand. I smacked them both. Well, tried to.

Jak grabbed my hand mid-slap, and pulled me over to the counter, jumping up and dragging me up with him. I settled myself between his legs as he twisted sideways on the counter, pushing us so both of out feet were stretched out on the counter. I leant back against his chest, feeling Jak put his arms around my waist and rest his chin on the top of my head, looking around at the cozy scene; Katie and Tess were sitting on the counter, chatting, and Sig was standing in front of the counter to the right of us, facing the wall, and listening to the story the girls were telling.

Daxter interrupted though, sliding across the counter to tell his own story. "So there I was, toe to toe with _five_ of the nastiest Metal Heads you ever saw! Slime oozing from monstrous jaws! Teeth sharper than daggers!" Tess put her hand to her mouth in a dramatic gasp, Katie roller her eyes, and Sig just looked on with a type of amused interest. "Slowly," The rat continued. "all _ten_ of 'em surround me. But do I surrender? No! I summon my highly trained killer instincts, and pounce! Hya! Chooy! Whaa! HAA!" He did some sort of cheap imitation karate, and I rolled my eyes, grinning, feeling Jak shaking with laughter under me. "And when the dust cleared, there were _twenty_ less Metal Heads in the world!

"Ohhh, Daxter" Tess cooed, leaning over the counter towards him, "you're amazing!" I honestly thought she was joking, but the sincere tone in her voice made me think different. Jak nudged me, and I looked up. He mouthed '_really?_' at me, and I just shook my head. I saw Katie rolling her eyes again in Tess's direction. Finally, someone with taste. I shook my head slightly at the thought.

"Yeah, I know." Daxter said, yawning ostentatiously. "Scratch me there." He pointed at his back, and Tess started rubbing him.

"Quite a story there, golden boy. I guess you're just the 'animal' I need for another dangerous gig." Sig said, an eyebrow raised. "Combat Metal Heads have now been spotted right here in Haven Forest! These new bad boys have special camouflage, so they're tough to spot but I'm sure with your 'killer instincts' you'll manage." He wiggled his finger in Daxter's direction. "Go to the forest and take 'em all out."

"Aww come on Sig, you have to give us another mission _now_?" I complained. "We were just getting comfy!"

**A/N: **_Hullo! Sorry for not posting yesterday! I have no legit excuse except I fell asleep._

_I hope you enjoyed the chapter yayyyyy_

_Did anyone else think the tanker mission as like the __**hardest **__mission in Jak II? Just me?_

_LadyAmazon: I had the same problem! I remember when i finally finished it, I had like one second left on the timer :P And my brother taught me a nifty little trick for the KG swarming mission. If you Dark Bomb the water, it kills whatever it is that kills you when you land on the water, and you can just JET board over the water and to the end. I thought that was a neat little glitch._

**xMonster**


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20:** Happy Reunions…  
><strong>Music:<strong> Forgotten Faces by Avenged Sevenfold

'_Forgotten faces.__  
><em>_Lost in yesterdays realm.__  
><em>_Drained with confusion.__  
><em>_Where did it all go?__  
><em>_Look into the past, look into their faces.__  
><em>_Never, the thought of being time fucked.'_

**Mood:** Hardcore!  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Parents lie, just like your writers.

The Combat Metal Heads were in the same place that the Dragon Metal Heads had been, so we headed down the Haven Gardens and through the door to the Mountain Temple Warp Ring. The platform was waiting for us, just like last time, so we stepped on it. It was still a little smooshed for two people, though.

It took us down through the mountain and stopped in the Haven Forest. I couldn't see anything amiss in the forest itself, but I guess that was the Metal Heads' '_special camouflage_'. Great, they could turn invisible; just what we needed. 

I got on my JET board and rode down the side of the mountain, scanning the forest from left to right. I went to the East side of the forest, and I could just tell that Jak went to the West, along the river through the tunnel to the open meadow and lake.

As I was monitoring Jak with my mind, I didn't noticed the Metal Head sneaking up on me until there was shots raining over my head.

I quickly turned around and shot an arrow at the thing, the Scatter Arrow blasting it backwards. I shot it again and it disintegrated. I checked the counter on my watch, and it said that there was 28 left. Jak must have got one too.

Just then, another Metal Head shot at me from behind, and I turned around to face it, but I didn't see anything. Another one shot at me from my right at the same time one shot at me from behind me and a little to the left. I was distracted, and the original one snuck up on my and smacked me with its spiked claws.

"Mother_fucker,_" I exclaimed, kicking then shooting the Metal Head until it disintegrated, just like the other one. I rubbed the spot on my head, but thankfully I wasn't bleeding. A health pack should do the trick.

The Metal Heads were still shooting at me while in disguise, and I had to wait until the Dark Eco shots flew by me before I could even begin to judge where they were at.

I turned to the one that was shooting at me from almost directly in front of me, just across the river. I noticed that if I focused on it, I could see the shimmer in the air where it was, and a faint glow from its yellow skull.

I shot twice, easily taking it down, looking for more shimmers. There was one sneaking off to my right, and I could see it out of my peripheral vision, and one ahead of me, walking up a hill.

I got the one on my right that thought I didn't see it, and got another one that thought it would be just brilliant to walk across the river before crossing said river and getting another one that was lurking in front of the cliff. I checked the watch; 16 left. I checked the mini map; there were five left in my area and 11 in the bigger area that Jak was in.

I easily found and shot two more that were sneaking around up a hill, and two more up another hill. I JET boarded down the side of the cliff, looking for the last one in my area.

I found it over by where I had started, shooting at me when it thought I wasn't looking. I swiftly loaded my bow and got the Metal Head in one shot, watching it disintegrate in a poof of Dark Eco.

I got on my hover board and rode down the river and through the tunnel, down a meadow where I got one metal head, grinded across some fallen trees and reached the other side of the river. Jak was there shooting a Metal Head. There was one sneaking off to his left, closest to me, so I shot it used the Blaster arrows.

The watch said that there was only three left, all tucked away into one corner that I assumed Jak hadn't got to yet.

We both went over there, and I could see the air shimmering in three separate places, all relatively close to one another. I went for the one on the left, and Jak went for the one in the middle. He took his out first and shot at the other one that was making its way towards us, albeit slowly. He shot at it once, and I shot at it once my Metal Head fell, and we both got the thing down as the counter flipped to zero.

Jak and I high fived before JET boarding to the entrance again and hopping on the tiny platform that would take us back to the Temple, which had the Warp Gate that would take us back to the City.

Going back to Haven after a mission like this was always disappointing. I hated that we got the chance to experience all the fresh mountain air and trees and small creatures, and then have to go back to Haven City, full of pollution and people.

xMx

We wandered around, because apparently we had to be proactive, looking for missions when no one had any at the moment. We stopped by the Hideout and by the Saloon and the Power Station, but no one had anything for us to do, all were too busy scheming or planning or hiding to do much in the _actual _fight for the city, not just the ones in the plans.

As a last resort, we stopped by the stadium with wrench symbol and the teal M I had put in last time we were there, standing for the Mechanic, because she apparently didn't trust us enough to show us her face or tell us her name. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar in the back of my mind, but I always brushed it off to paranoia.

"We destroyed Krew's cargo…" Jak informed her as we walked in.

"Great. I'll send you a medal." She responded sarcastically. I didn't like her. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm on a deadline, so scr-"

"Chill the fuck out." I said heatedly, interrupting the ending of her sentence. "Are you always this difficult?" Jak knotted out hands together, standing behind me, resting his chin on my head to stop me from moving forward ripping the curtain open.

"Let me handle this," Daxter pushed his way past me and Jak, walking smoothly to the curtain. "Listen lady, we beat your stupid course, and we can outrace anybody in this city." He pointed to where the mechanic was, his voice rising.

"Wait! That voice..." She said, and I could see her figure rising behind the drape. Oh no, another one of the people Daxter met on his two year trek to find us…

"And there's just two things you need to know." Daxter continued, obviously not hearing the comment. "One, we don't want to join your stinking race team, and two... you just lost a date with Orange Lightning. Let's go guys." He said, turning and walking towards us in a huff.

"Daxter, it _is _you!" The mechanic exclaimed ripping the curtain open, staring at the otzel. My brain wouldn't register or accept the fact that the person who was standing in front of me was…

"Keira?" Daxter half asked, half yelled.

"Oh I never thought I'd be so glad to see your furry mug!" Not having seen us yet. I clutched Jak's hand tighter, I was already emitting small blue sparks, just from thinking of what she used to say and all the memories I had of her. Jak stroked the back of my hand with his thumb and I calmed down a little bit. "And Jak! You look... different. Maddy… Wow…" She trailed off, her hands clutching to her mouth.

I flicked my eyes to the floor. I hated when people mentioned that. "It's been a tough ride." Jak said poignantly. I felt his arms tighten around me.

"The Baron pumped our resident love birds here full of Dark Eco, and it did something to him. Now they've both got super moves or something, and a few anger issues as well!" Daxter explained, completely oblivious as always.

"I've been looking for you guys forever!" Kiera exclaimed.

"Can't have been that hard." I snarled, pulling away from Jak but keeping our fingers interlocked, leaning forward menacingly. "Looked in the Haven News lately? Or around the city? Or listened to any of the warnings? We're all over the place!" I felt my hair begin the rise in anger. I knew I was being irrational, but I had a short temper, and seeing Kiera all oblivious and ignoring me was pissing me off.

"Well I have been planning a way to get us back home, so I've been _kind of _busy." You could have cut the tension between the two of us with a dagger. She continued on, looking away. "Somehow that rift took us far into the future. I've calculated the time displacement..."

"We found your father... well, sort of." Jak interrupted, and Kiera turned to look at us all in shock.

"Working with the Underground fighting the Baron. But he's ahh..." He paused, thinking of how to put it.

"What!" She asked confusedly.

"You need to go see him." I spared Jak the explanation. "And _we_ need to get to the Baron."

"You could try to win the Class One Racing Championship." She said directly to Jak. "The winner of that big race always gets to meet the Baron in the Palace." Rad. "But you have to qualify by winning the lower class races. There's a Class Three race starting soon. You can drive for my team. But we should think about getting out of here. I don't like this place. And some of the people are creepy."

Just as she said that, Krew flew into the building. I chuckled darkly at the irony.

"Jak, Maddy. I need that Ruby Key you found, 'ey. A 'special client' has requested it." I couldn't help but wonder who that was…

"Sorry about that, Krew." Jak said, not sounding very sorry at all, rubbing the back of his neck. I rolled my eyes at him, reaching into my pack and handing the key to Jak who handed it to Krew. Jak laughed in a disguised kind of menacing way. "Must've forgotten."

"Right!" Krew said, grabbing the key greedily. "Don't let it happen again… you know my terms of return…" He trailed off dragging his eyes up and down my body. I sneered, rolling my eyes again.

Krew flew away, leaving us in the awkwardly silent room again. We stood there for a few second, and I let my mind wonder. How did Krew fit through that door? Was his fat like dough? Like moldable to the shape he wanted?

My weird thought process was cut off by Ashelin coming into the room. "I thought I'd find you in here." She said, walking towards me and Jak, ignoring Kiera. I kind of let out a half smile. "Maddy, I have a seat for you if you're not going out there with Jak." She offered.

I looked at Jak, who shook his head minutely, grabbing my hand. "Uhh thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to go out there with Jak. I'm his good luck charm." I kissed his cheek obnoxiously. I watched out of the corner of my eyes with a small satisfied smirk (_A/N try saying that five times fast!_) as Kiera huffed and walked back to her corner, ripping the curtain to block off the view.

"Alright, but if you need it, it's first row, fourth seat in on the Right Wing. Just look for Katie and Torn, they'll both be there." Ashelin said. "And, by the way, good luck. Watch out for Gen. He's a violent racer and has no qualms about knocking you off the course. Other than that you should be good."

"Noted." Jak said. "Thanks."

"We better get going, the race starts soon." She said, turning and walking out. Jak and I followed after her, getting ready for the race.

xMx

The race was a really simple track, and we had done hard just running from KGs. I was situated on the Racer Zoomer behind Jak my arms wrapped around his waist, surveying the map of the track on the hologram in front of us.

I memorized it, even though I didn't need to, just in case. The map flashed before disappearing, and a small light fixture flew down in front of all the racers, flashing three red lights before a green that signaled go.

Jak waited a second longer than the rest of the racers, letting them mob forward first, then taking off around them. He easily made it to third place that way, and then second by passing another racer. There was about eight racers in total, but I assumed that at least three of them had already fallen off the cliff that was over the jump near the end of the first track, leaving us in second place out of five racers.

The driver ahead of us was no mediocre driver like the rest of them, and he actually knew what he was doing, I was assuming he was Gen.

Jak overtook him on the third lap by boosting over the gap, a risky move, but one that got him in first. The rest of the race was easy, and we passed over the finish line on the fifth line to a stunned silence, but then cheering. I guess no one expected anyone to win.

I smirked, ignoring the crowd and following Jak to where he was grabbing the trophy. We headed back to the garage to find Kiera and Ashelin already there, glaring at each other.

Oh this was going to be fun...

**A/N: **_I really hate races…_

_I was gunna add the next scene in, but I just can't figure out how I want to write it. I know that Kiera's mad crushing on Jak, but I kind of don't want Ashelin to. Ithink I'm going to make her be nice (to Maddy and Jak) and she and Maddy are going to be bad ass friends. I think I'm just going to have her not like Kiera. Should I resolve the Kiera-Maddy issue, or should I drag it out a bit longer? I'm leaning towards dragging out a little bit more cuz I don't like Kiera lol. Thoughts?_

**xMonster**


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21:** Lot's of Brushes With Death Today  
><strong>Music:<strong> Last Flight Home by All Time Low  
>(A message from Maddy to Keira)<p>

'_Now the runaway lights are fading  
>with the darkness overtaking<br>I'll leave you standing watching all alone  
>From that paneglass window one million miles away<br>And I'm sorry when I tell you  
>But I'm coming back'<em>

**Mood:** Vindictive  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents  
>(Anyone notice yesterdays mess up?)<p>

"When is this city gonna provide some challenge, huh?" Daxter said slamming down the trophy, completely oblivious to the tension between the adults in the room.

"Hey, I watched you race today. You were pretty amazing out there." Ashelin said when we walked in after Daxter, tearing her sneering gaze away from Keira.

"Oh, thanks... You two seem to have met… Keira, Ashelin, Ashelin, Keira." Jak introduced awkwardly flicking his hands back and forth between the two. There was too much estrogen in this room.

"Everyone knows who she is." Keira sneered, and I wanted to slap her contemptuous face.

"Keira's a..." Jak rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. I chuckled at his awkwardness.

"A mechanic?" I suggested with a smirk.

"A friend. A very good friend." Keira ignored my comment and leant forward to Ashelin, who, if I didn't know better, looked like she sparking with anger.

"The fuck ever." I snorted, trying to hold back my laughter.

"Thanks for helping out with that tanker. You guys saved a lot of lives." Ashelin said, taking her glaring eyes away from Keira and looked at me and Jak with a much nicer face. "I'm not my father, you know." She said slowly, almost sadly.

"We didn't think you were!" I protested, feeling my eyebrows bunch together.

Ashelin kind of smiled, and Keira roller her eyes. "Ever since I was a little girl," The red head continued, looking down to the floor, "I've looked down at the city streets from that_ ridiculous_ Palace, and imagined a better place."

"You're helping, _we're,_" I gestured to Jak, Daxter, Ashelin and myself, not so accidentally skipping Keira, "all helping. Haven's worth fighting for." I don't know where the pep talk came from, but everyone was nodding in agreement.

"We can save her." Jak said fiercely.

"That we can." Ashelin agreed. I couldn't help but smirk as Keira shut her curtains against the close circle the three of us were forming. I noticed that Ashelin did too. I like her. She was cool. "By the way," She warned. "they're hunting for you. I'd watch out for Erol. I can't protect you guys from him." She turned around and left, following the group of KGs that had just walked by the door. "See you."

I waved, and said, "She's cool. She should stay around longer."

Upon checking the mini map, we saw that the Shadow was with Onin and Pecker, and decided to go check it out, since we haven't seen or talked to either of them for a while.

"The birdbrain and I were just talking about you two." The Shadow said upon seeing us. "Onin is very proud of what you both did." His voice sounded so different, and I couldn't get over how weird it was seeing him relatively wrinkle free, and without that incessant bird fluttering around his head.

I put my hands on my hips. Wait… what did we do this time? "We we did?" Jak asked, once again voicing my thoughts.

"What you did... what you'll do... it's all the same." Pecker said, nonchalantly flicking his wing around.

"Will you stop with the deja voodoo stuff! It's creepy!" Daxter exclaimed from Jak's shoulder.

"Onin says you must find the Tomb of Mar." Samos informed. Well. That was straight to the point. Apparently Samos could read Onin's swirly blue language too.

"Even now, Baron Praxis seeks the tomb, but only... arrrk!" Birds are annoying. "The true heirs of Mar and Sylence can open the Tomb's seal."

"We believe the kids are the key." They're kidding right?

"The prophecies say the true heirs must face the ancient Oracle. The separate heirs must take the tests to get into the tomb, separate tests for both. The girl must face the tests of Sylence, and the boy must face the tests of Mar. Only their combined touch can unlock the Precursor Stone, thereby unleashing…" The bird stopped talking, dropping his wings, which had been flapping around dramatically, and took a deep breath. "Geez louise, fossil lady! Stop with the snotty mystic talk already!" He peaked his head over the brim of the bowl/hat on her head, looking at her. "You know that it hurts my lips!"

"Why is the tomb so important?" Jak asked, crossing his arms over his chest, and doing that stupid sinister eye thing that meant he wanted answers.

"The fabled Precursor Stone is fabled to sleep within the Tomb, tucked away between the statues' touching hands, stupid." He paused. "I added the stupid part." Daxter sneered at him, mock talking and wobbling his head. I half grinned, but turned my attention back to the bird. "The Precursor Stone contains vast eco energies. It can be used for great good.. or... great eeeevil!" He grinned, looking at Samos.."I just love saying that last part!"

"The Baron wants the Precursor Stone for himself to rule the world. But he is playing with forces he does not understand." The Shadow informed.

I noticed Daxter nodding off lethargically on Jak's shoulder, and resisted the urge to smack him. "How is he going to get it?" I asked, because that just didn't make sense. "If only the kids can access it?" I paused. "Speaking of which, how do we even _get to_ the Precursor Stone?"

Pecker started to speak, but Samos cut him off with instructions. "First, you must go to the Dig and find the Lurker totem. Onin and I learned that a piece to the Seal of Mar is contained within its ancient carvings. You must find all three pieces of the seal to open Mar's gate into the canyon."

"Like this one?" Jak asked, pulling the one I had retrieved from Brutter's out of my pack, and holding it up.

"Arrk! Yes, like that." Pecker squawked.

"This here is Sylence's half." Samos said, examining it before dropping it back into Jak's hand. Onin did the thing with the blue lights again, forming two symbols out of the particles, and matching them together to create the symbol.

Oh.

It all clicked. Mar and Sylence ran the city together as one, so it makes sense that the key should be in two parts coming together as one, two heirs coming together as one.

Following my revelation we left for the Air Train that would take us to the dig.

xMx

The dig was practically the same as last time, except this time, it was inhabited by Metal Heads, rather than KGs.

There was two main paths, so we took the one to the right, which lead us directly do one of the map's glowing green dots, which was a button that needed to be pressed. Jak pressed it while I looked around for the result. There was too much movement in the area, though, so I couldn't tell what was a direct result from the button.

We followed the path forward, which lead to what seemed to be the middle of the place. There were spiked logs twisting, lava under us, and lots of Metal Heads. Over to the right was another button that Jak went and pushed.

Across one of the spinning logs and through a cave was another, and under the wooden thing we were on was another.

The mini map said that the last one was somewhere off in the back corner of the dig, so we headed off that way.

It was actually in a small room that we reached after knocking down a few things and taking a Precursor Orb.

There was a some sort of wooden structure in the middle of the dig, with a balloon and a swinging rope leading towards a cave we hadn't been into yet.

To get to the wooden edifice, we had to climb a few things, and grind across a pipe, but Jak and I made it there, and took turns getting across the small lave lake via swinging trapeze. It was actually kind of freaky, especially since we didn't know if the thing could hold us up, or if the rope would snap and drop whoever was on it into the lava below.

But that's who we were, so we took the risk and made it across without anyone dying. On the other side was a whole bunch of Metal Heads and a log that looked like it had been pushed up. I assumed that's what the buttons had done.

We dusted the Metal Heads and climbed up the log and followed the path behind it, which lead to another room filled with lava, and the only way across being a few sketchy looking logs that sank when you put pressure on them.

I was going to be amazing if all three of us made it alive by the end of this mission. Honestly. There's way too much lava here.

I was once again surprised that we survived the epic battle against sinking logs, no balance, and lava, but we did, and made it across to find more flying trapeze balloons.

Great.

I swung on the first one, hoping with all my non-existent heart that the thing didn't give out on me, and landed on the other side to wait for Jak, prepping myself for another brush with fate on the next swinging rope.

We made it across again, but guess what; _more lava. _This time with more Eco Bomb throwing Metal Heads, spinning cycle-like things, and falling spiked bombs. Fun.

Jak went first, knocking out the Metal Head before we climbed up with the Blaster gun, and I climbed up after him to retrieve the skull, almost dying by falling spike.

Daxter was right. This place had way too much excitement.

We climbed up to where the balls were falling from, crossing without getting hit, and finally _finally,- _no more death defying tricks to have to perform – found the totem.

Daxter immediately ran towards the thing, getting ready to climb, saying, "I'm on it!" But he stopped, thinking about it for a second, before saying, "Wait a minute. I think this time one of _you _should go get the thing!"

I looked at Jak out of the top of my eyes, biting my lip and holding in a smile. He sighed with a huffed "Fine…" before attempting to climb the thing.

"Looks dodgy up there!" Daxter said when Jak finally made it up to the top. "Don't hurt yourself, Jak!"

Don't mock him or you'll end up getting hurt." I chastised with a laugh, because it was probably true.

Jak finally made it to the top, and with a triumphant noise, he pulled out the totem, but of course, something else went wrong, and a huge piece of wood fell with it. I dove to the side to avoid getting hit, so Daxter fell off my shoulder, staggering slightly.

The wood fell directly on him mouth first. It was a giant wooden fish. I thought I was going to die of laughter, clutching my stomach as Daxter felt around at the big piece of wood on his head.

"It's a curse, isn't it?" Daxter said, getting up and starting to walk away. Jak took mercy on the little guy, pulling the big thing off his head with a pop, and we all walked back to the Warp Gate that would take us back to the city.

xMx

The map was showing the little sword icon with a big dark green T and a dark purple K next to it to be flashing, meaning that Torn wanted us for something or another. So we made our way over to the Hideout.

"Sup tattoos, giggles." Daxter said, climbing up on the table.

"The Baron's coming down pretty hard." Torn said, ignoring Daxter. Katie just rolled her eyes. "Whatever you've been doing, you've really upset him."

Jak smirked. "We're just getting started."

"He's brought in new Krimzon Guard Hellkat Cruisers, making the streets dangerous for the Underground." Katie warned us, walking up to Torn, and standing next to him, directly across from me. I noticed that we were all mirrored, the only difference being that Jak had a neon orange otzel on his shoulder.

"We've already lost five men this week." Torn said. He didn't sound sad, just informative.

"Your_ men _should be able to take care of themselves..." Jak said, turning away.

"But Jak, that sounds fun." I whispered, standing on my toes to reach his ear.

Jak turned around to face Torn and Katie again, and I followed, grinning, because this sounded fun. "But I wouldn't mind taking out a few Cruisers if that's what you're getting at."

"Never part of a bigger cause, eh you two?" Katie asked, smirking. I kind of grimaced because she was making us sound like hypocrites.

"I'll take your help any way I can get it." Aww Torn needs us, "Bring down all five Hellkat Cruisers. That should send the Baron a message."

**A/N: **_Hola! Okay so school starting in 18 days (eww but kind of yay) and I'm almost positive I'll be done with this story by then. My question to you guys is, should I continue this on into Jak 3 and Jak X? Just Jak 3? Let me know! I think if I do continue, I might not do Jak X, because even though the story line is cool, it's kind of just lots of racing._

_Well, review with your thoughts!_

**xMonster**


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Where Kids Don't Die, but We Might…  
>Music: Don't Leave Me by Blink-182<p>

'_Don't leave me all alone  
>Just drop me off at home<br>I'll be find, it's not the first  
>Just like the last time,<br>but a little worse'_

Mood: Sweaty (It's 103 degrees here. Grossss . I miss winter)  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents.<p>

There were five new Hellkats to take out, and they created quite an explosion when hit, which I discovered when the first one blew up, sending a shrapnel between Jak and my heads. It would have stabbed one of us if I hadn't jerked the Zoomer off to the side.

I had to drive because my weapons wouldn't do near as much damage to the vehicle as Jak's did, and I really didn't feel like using a gun again. Jak was using the Vulcan rifle, and the whole mission would have been so much easier if we hadn't had every Krimzon Guard in the city after us as well.

The map was flashing when we left the underground, but the cops weren't after us, so they must have been alerted that someone was after their vehicles, but they just didn't know who.

So all the guards were on high alert, and the second Jak pressed the trigger to shoot the cruiser, we were swarmed by the KGs, which was a bit of a hindrance.

The first explosion, while almost killing us, did knock out quite a few of the guards surrounding us, and gave us a little bit of time to regain bearings and to search out the next one.

We decided to take on the cruiser flying over by the Water Slums, and it wasn't that hard to take out, minus the turrets on the back of the vehicle itself, because most of the KGs were over in the Slums and Sector 3, protecting the other three cruisers.

With two down, we made our way through the Slums, attracting the guards attention, but they didn't do anything, to find another Hellkat.

The third one was flying around almost to Sector 4, but still in the Slums, and of course, there was a whole bunch of KGs wandering around under it. Jak shot at it anyways, and the thing took off, so I put the pedal to the floor, racing after it.

The guards apparently couldn't keep up with us, which was good, but the turrets on the back of the Hellkat kept shooting at us, making me have to swerve to avoid us getting hit, making Jak lose his focus a little bit.

In the end we brought it down, and conveniently, the cruiser took us almost directly to the next one. It didn't seem to realize that it was us attacking the others, and it was just flying along. Jak took aim and fired the Vulcan directly at its engine. It lit fire almost immediately, and went down significantly faster than the other one had, leaving us with only one more.

The last one was a bit harder to find, because the KGs had caught up to us, and were proving to be quite the hindrance in getting in our way, but we found it making its way to Sector 5, just a obliviously as the last one.

Jak shot at it, and the thing took off, turning around and flying back into Sector 4, or back into where the KGs were. The morph gun clicked on empty, though, and Jak had to shoot at the cruiser with the Blaster gun, which took a whole lot longer than it should have, which kind of sucked.

The last one went down in a pile of flaming Zoomer bits, killing the rest of the guards around us.

"I think the missions are getting easier." Jak said.

"Either that or the Krimzon Guards are getting stupider." Daxter responded.

"Probably both," I affirmed, turning the wheel and driving us to the Bazaar, because the map had a light blue K there, along with the ghastly blue O and scarlet P. I wanted to know why Kor was there, I didn't trust him. At all. There was something funny about him.

"…Expecting those little kids to save us is folly! At their age, neither of them is any match for the Metal Head leader." We heard Kor say loudly to Onin.

He noticed us stepping in, and stopped talking, his eyes widening. "Oh… We were just talking about Samos's plan…"

I raised my eye brow skeptically, shifting my weight to my other foot, looking at Kor searchingly. He looked away, back to Onin and Pecker.

"Onin says your voice sounds very familiar." Pecker said, rubbing his feathered hand on his chin. I saw Kor's eyes widen. "I'll bet you two golden oldies go way _way_ back, huh?" I saw Onin glaring at Kor through squinted eyes, as if trying to see something that no one else saw. That didn't help my skepticism one bit. "Onin needs you both need to prove yourselves, prove how well you can work together." Well that'd be easy. Jak and I work amazingly together. "You've shown your brass, and your brawn. Now you must use your brains as well." The monkey-bird continued. "Frankly, I think she's pushing it, but I'm not the boss. Beat this test, and the third piece to the Seal will be revealed."He fluttered his hands to Onin, who twirled her hands in the air.

Four button-like things generated from her blue sparks, two settling in front of me, the other two settling in front of Jak. "Sit down." Pecker instructed, gesturing to the two pillows on the floor. I sat on the red one on the right, Jak on the blue one. We both sat cross-legged, matching Onin.

The button like things settled in front of us, and Pecker gave us the instructions, "Onin will make shapes, you press the right button," He fluttered his fingers at the symbols on the buttons. They were simple, mine being an x and a triangle, Jak's being a circle and a square. "Do not press the button any more than necessary, or you will lose points, work together to not let the shapes drop, and to get the winning score." He paused looking down at Onin, she waved her hands around a little bit, stirring up the colourful dust. "Okay, good luck. Go!"

Onin twirled her hands around, making the shapes fly up in the air and drop down. I hit the button when I saw my shape, Jak hitting his. I didn't really understand how this was a test of brains, but whatever. I could see how it was a teamwork thing, but was teamwork something that Jak and I had to prove? Together, Jak and I worked better than a well oiled Hellkat with a top KG driving.

The shapes kept coming, and we kept hitting buttons. I kept an eye on the counter on the wall, watching it go up steadily, only stopping when one of us, usually me, accidentally hit one too many, or let on drop.

We easily reached the end, though, and Pecker said, "Behold!" As the last piece of the key was unlocked, the backing piece, flying up towards us. I reached into my backpack, pulling out the other two pieces, Mar and Sylence's pieces, feeling them float away, up to complete the symbol. "Mar and Sylence would be so happy. Their symbol is complete at last!" The bird exclaimed.

The symbol floated back down to us, and Jak grabbed it. I touched it, just to see, and the thing lit up in both of our hands. I quickly withdrew my hands at Kor's sinisterly interested gaze. The light went away. Jak handed it to me when Kor looked away. I noticed how confused my boyfriend looked, as when I touched it again, it lit up, but the light went away when he took his hands away from it, leaving it in my grip. I shook my head confusedly, tucking it away into my pack, and turning back to Pecker, who was still talking.

"Onin says the three artifacts you've retrieved from the Mountain Temple," A loud squawk interrupted his sentence, "are relics from an ancient Light Tower. Old songs tell how this light tower once shined down on the actual site of Mar's tomb! I sing one of these songs for you." The he started singing, so out of tune, I wanted to cover my ears. "From the mists of time, Mar's light would shine" Kor dropped his walking stick, and we all cringed at the particularly high note, "with Sylence there to guide him..."

"Whoa there iron lungs!" Jak interrupted, putting his hands out. "Just tell us what we need to do."

"Cretins with no taste, huh?" The bird spit in disgust. "You must take the three artifacts to Mar's gate. Only then will the Light Tower rise and reveal the tomb." He turned away, obviously not going to say anymore.

We walked out before Kor could say anything, going to the Mountain Temple, where apparently Mar's light would shine with Sylence's guidance. What the hell did that even mean?

The entrance was a Precursor Door that I hadn't noticed before, off to the right, not quite into the Mountain Temple. Jak held up the key to it, and a light from the left side of the door struck the symbol, I think on Mar's side. Thinking of what happened back in the tent with the lights on the symbol, I stuck my right hand out and put in on the other half of the symbol, the unlit half, or Sylence's half. A light from the right side of the door struck the symbol on my side, and the whole key started flashing a subtle yellow light. I could feel it pulling away, so I unlocked my fingers from it, and Jak did the same, and the little circle floated away from us and to the door, landing in the middle.

The door opened, leaving the key floating in mid-air, still glowing. I went to grab it, but it wouldn't budge, so I gestured Jak over, not letting go of it, even if I wanted to, I couldn't, I think it had me locked there. He came over and put his hand on the other half of it, and it unlocked, losing all the tension, dropping the rest of the way into our hands. This key was weird. It needed two people to use it. Strange.

I tucked it away into my pack, and we continued on, down a small rocky path, until we were met with the first obstacle. There was a huge gap with a glowing, lighted rail, connecting the two ledges together. Jak got on his JET board before I could even think about it, and was already grinding down it.

I got on mine and followed after him, not too closely, though, flipping over the big lights in the middle, and having to spin to turn, but I made it safely to the other side, where Jak was waiting. We went down the path, and through another open door, down a couple of ledges, across another path, down another ledge, and through a rocky archway before we reached the destination.

It was a big stone ravine like thing, with pieces of rock littered across the ground, which was now a smooth stone, and three big weird contraptions scattered around.

It was obvious what to do, and Jak saw that too, as I looked up to see him handing the gear to Daxter, and the lens to me. He took the blue crystal for himself, nodding to me and Dax. We all took off at the same time, running towards the fitting structure.

I kept the lens cradled to my chest, not wanting to drop it or anything, and approached the structure. It was a statue of Sylence, her hands raised up towards to sky, but nothing in them, I tossed the lens into her hands, where it fit like a charm, heading back to Jak and Daxter, who were watching the scene unfold.

The crystal and the gear had worked together to set off some sort of blue light coming from Mar's statue, that shot up through the lens in Sylence's hand, that spun, guiding the light back to the city. From here, we could see the beam shoot out and straight through the Baron's statue, breaking it open, shattering it. Of course the Baron built Haven Square _directly _on top of their tomb.

"Arrrrk!" Pecker came through the communicator. "I be a Yakkow's uncle!" The bird exclaimed. "The Light Tower actually _does _exist. The beam of light it shining somewhere in the city! The Tomb of Mar and Sylence was under our noses the whole time." I blame Praxis. "And thanks to me… _you found it!_" Pecker said contemptuously, shutting off the communicator. I rolled my eyes, following after Jak, who was retreating back the way we came.

The exit was just past the second door, up an outcrop and down a path that led us to an edge that was just across from the Warp Gate and door back into Haven.

"Decontamination complete." The female voice in the door confirmed, opening it up and letting us back into the city, where we made our way over to Haven Square. All the KGs were on high alert, so we couldn't JET board there, so we stole a Zoomer and went to the Tomb.

Inside the door was another elevator that took us down to a big room where Samos, Kor, and both the little kids were. I looked on in disgust, pulling the little girl to me when she walked up to me, holding her to me by keeping my hands over her shoulder. She was about as high as my waist, and quaking in fear.

I saw her holding the little boys hand, who was actually mirror to my position to the little girl, but with Jak. I grabbed Jak's hand, just to finish the picture, listening intently as the wizened talked.

"You did it!" Samos said in awe. "You actually found both Mar and Sylence's tombs! I don't know why we never thought they'd be together…" I was disgusted with him. Was he actually missing the big picture?

"Great!" Jak said harshly. "Now what? We send these poor kids into a meat grinder?" I tightened my grip on the little girl, and she squeezed my fingers, backing up into me.

"This is the day I've long awaited!" Kor said excitedly. "To finally hold the fabled Precursor Stone in my hands." I glared at him. There was something way to sketchy about him for my liking.

"You must be cautious, children." Samos warned, and I snorted in disdain again. I couldn't believe they were actually going to send these kids into that death trap. "The tests are sure to be fraught with peril and the separate heirs must face them alone." Okay, so not only were they sending two _children _in, but they were separating them. I was starting to like Mar and Sylence – and everyone else, actually - a little less.

"It's okay, kids." Daxter said, walking between the two and ruffling the little blond kid's hair. "You can do it. It's just a deep, pitch-black, 'sure to be filled to the brim with painful death' old tomb." He stopped talking at Jak's hand telling him to cut it out, before turning and whispering into the little girl's ear. "I wouldn't go in there."

"Way to give a pep talk Dax," I said, shaking my head. "You'r-" I was cut off by a sound of rock grinding against rock, and looked up as the Oracle started talking, doing that weird thing that made it sound like it was talking directly into both ears at once. I felt the little girl clamp her hands over her ears, so I rubbed her back in a hopefully soothing way.

"Welcome, heirs of Mar and Sylence. Finally, the chosen ones stand before me. Enter and prove yourself worthy to claim the ancient birthright." The door started to rise, and I saw both of the kids cringe. I felt myself getting pulled forward towards to door, and I walked around the kid, and I could see Jak out of the corner of my eye walking forward. I couldn't stop walking, it was like there was a string pulling me.

But, the door stopped rising at about halfway, stopping the strange connection I was feeling, and I came to a halt next to Jak, just in front of the kids. "No," The Oracle declined. "Both of these children are too young to face the test." The door started slowly shutting again

"What?! No!" Kor protested, sticking his hands out.

"Do something!" Samos said, but I was already looking at Jak. He nodded, and we both ran towards the closing door.

"Jak, remember the 'sure to be filled to the brim with painful death' part!? Maddy?!" Daxter yelled, running after us.

Both Jak and I barrel rolled under the door at the same time, ducking under just before it closed. Jak reached back under and dragged Daxter in, just as the door shut.

I looked at Jak, opening my mouth to say something, just as an almost invisible, glowing purple wall slammed down between us, sufficiently trapping us apart.

I put my hand up on the thing, seeing Jak's mouth move, but I couldn't hear him. The wall continued all the way down the tomb, only stopping when it reached the door, cutting through the middle of Mar and Sylence's hands, which were holding each other's directly above the middle of the door, Sylence on the left, Mar on the right.

Great.

I had to face Sylence's challenges.

Alone.

**A/N: **_Dun Dun Dun! _

_Haha I hoped you guys liked the chapter, this one was actually pretty fun to write :D I'm excited about the next chapter. The Tomb's challenges up next!_

_Review with your thoughts._

_Cheers! _

**xMonster**


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Sylence's Challenges Weren't Really Meant For _ME, _Right?  
>Music: F.T.W.W.W by Mad Gear and the Missile Kid<p>

'_She said come on, come on, kiss my battery,  
>Come on, come on, I'll be your android girl,<br>She said come on, come on, kiss my battery,  
>Come on, come on and fuck this whole wide world<em>

_Turn up the fakes and lies, just answer me,  
>You stare me down and take my only guise<br>They need the ones you got,  
>And laugh for me,<br>Destroy the council while your mother cries'_

Mood: Frustrated (I'm stuck on the game I'm playing :C)  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents.<p>

I felt myself being pulled along down the path to the water, so I followed it, rather than resisting. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get to Jak, no matter how hard I tried, it just wasn't aloud.

I walked down to the water, and I could see where the shield interrupted the water as well, and I knew that I wouldn't see Jak for a long time, so I looked at the screen one more time, watching as Jak made his way across the water, next to me, but not. He looked at me, blinked sadly, tried to say something that I couldn't hear. I pointed to my ear and made and x with two fingers, and he nodded, growling at the screen.

I knew it was cheesy, but I made a heart with my fingers, looking at him. He smirked, but made the symbol back. He opened his mouth saying something that I still couldn't understand, but before I could even attempt to read what he was saying, the screen started to fade to black, cutting off all view of him.

I snarled in frustration as the screen went black, turning away and shooting a Water Lurker that was encroaching on me. I JET boarded away, over to the solid ground across the lake, over to the big door under the two founders' hands.

It was locked, and wouldn't budge, but I could see how opening could be a problem when there is a big black shield cutting through the middle.

I sighed, turning to my left and seeing the door there with another statue of Sylence standing next to it. That's where I had to go.

The first set of doors opened up to reveal a whole bunch of steps, which a climbed up, and then another set of doors with a giant S on them. Those doors opened to an empty room with 4 doors, including the one I just came from, and a button in the middle.

I pressed the button, and let out a tiny shriek when about fifteen bugs flew down from the ceiling. I regained my bearings a second later when I realized the bugs weren't attacking me, and the oracle was talking.

"Weapons are for the weak." It said. I looked around at all the bugs lying on their backs; there were three that had red dots on their tummys, and I took note of those as the bugs flipped back over and started crawling around, keeping my eyes on the three.

I walked up to the first one, and it didn't react, so I kind of awkwardly poked it, and it didn't do anything but flutter its wings, so I punched it. That made it react. It flew away, onto the door directly ahead of me, attaching itself.

Oh.

I went up to one of the other marked bugs, and punched it, watching it fly to the door along with the other one.

I walked up to the last bug, and punched it, but turns out, it wasn't the bug with the mark. How do I know? It exploded in a blast of magenta guts. Gross.

I went to the one to the right of it, punching it, and hoping it wouldn't explode. Luckily, I got the right one, and it flew away to the door.

The rest of the bugs flew away when the last one landed on the door, and then the ones on the door went away as the doors opened, showing another room that had a blue glow to it.

I hesitantly walked to the door, looking inside, but all I saw was a blue gate. Upon looking down, though, I noticed that there was a small lake of electrified water, stretching under the gate.

The electricity turned off for a few seconds before turning back on, then turning back off after. I took my chance and dove under the water, hoping the electricity was only at the surface. I held my breath and swam to the bottom of the pool as the electricity came on. Nothing happened.

I made my way up slightly, and swam all the way to the other side. The electricity turned off, so I rocketed up to the surface, vaulting over the edge onto dry land just as more electricity filled the water.

I took at deep breath and wrung out my hair, but I could already feel myself drying and my hair starting to spike.

Soon I was fully dry and ready to continue. So I did, and I was met with spider. Gahh. Why did I get the buggy room?

I knocked out the three spiders that were approaching with one Scatter arrow, my nose wrinkling the whole time. I hated spiders.

The next room showed a huge gap to the other side, with nothing in the middle. There was a platform in front of me, across the gap, and to the left of that, across another gap, was another set of doors. There was a button at my feet, so I stepped on it, and the room was filled with coloured tiles. One of them flashed, a red one, and I didn't know if that was a warning to get onto it or get off.

I took a chance and jumped onto it, feeling it bounce a little. I held my breath, but nothing happened except a green one two rows ahead and a tile to the right flashed. I jumped to it, waiting for the next one to flash. It was a yellow one a row up and three tiles over, almost directly in front of the next ledge.

Upon jumping on the last one, a small bump on top of the platform opened up to reveal another square button.

I jumped on it, and a bridge to the set of doors was made out of more tiles. The first one to flash was a blue one, and then a red one, and then another red one that I almost missed by not turning around fast enough.

I caught it, though, and jumped to it, waiting for the next flash. A green one flashed, so I jumped to it, and then a yellow one.

The last yellow one caused the doors to open, so I rolled through them, seeing more spiders. I took them all out before I could look at them. The room was filled with cages of what seemed like bones, and that was pretty cool.

Down a hall and to the right was another electrified water pool. I made it through again, almost getting shocked, but instead of going down, I clung to the bottom of the gate, which actually might have been the Oracle's nose, wrapping my feet around it and holding myself until the electricity went away, dropping and swimming down to the other side and jumping up when it stopped again.

The set of doors on the other opened with a stony grind to show me that I was back in the bug room.

Stepping on the button produced the same result as last time; lots of bugs dropping from the ceiling.

I punched the marked ones, sending them to the only door that I hadn't been through yet, which opened upon the last bug landing.

The doors opened and there was another electric lake on the other side. I made it across differently this time, JET boarding across when the electricity was gone.

I flipped the red board out of the water, and safely landed on the other side, silently cheering myself for my success.

Through the door was another empty room without a floor and a button at my feet. This time, though, the door was directly across the gap, with two platforms to the left and right a little off the middle, closer to the door than me.

The flashing light tiles led me to the left ledge after four tiles, opening the next button. I hit it, and five more tiles later, I was on the right ledge, the button opening.

I pushed the button and followed the tiles – 6 this time – until the doors opened.

There was yet another electrified water pond that I had to make it across, this time with a gate so I couldn't JET board along it.

So I did it the long was, swimming as far as a could underwater, hopping onto the small raised circle when the water wasn't electrified, and swimming some more before jumping out and feeling myself almost automatically dry off.

The next room was what appeared to be a cemetery. I didn't see how it could solve some sort of puzzle here, so I turned around, only to discover that the door slammed shut on me.

Well then.

I hesitantly went up to the first small tombstone, and pressed it. It started shaking and emitted a small tune. I blinked, hitting it again; it made the same noise.

I hit the one directly next to it, and it let out an altered version of the tune. I went to the one in front of it, which released yet another different song. The one to the right of it made the exact same noise, and both the tombstones sunk into the ground.

That's when it dawned on me that I was playing a big game of memory. I looked around the room, counting the tombstones left, there were ten. I just had to find five remaining matches.

I went around the room, matching the music, and when I got the last two matched, both sets of doors opened. I walked through the one I hadn't been through. I looked around and I noticed I was in the main tomb room, with the lake and the Water Lurkers.

There was a button at my feet, so I stepped on it, and a huge beam of blue light came from over by the main door, shooting through the whole hall, and landing directly on the statue of Sylence. I froze, hoping I didn't break anything, looking around, noticing I could see the other side of the hall now. I looked for Jak, wanting to find him, but apparently, he wasn't out of his tests yet.

There was a floating platform waiting for me, so jumped on it, letting it take me down to the water. Jak wasn't there either.

I JET boarded across the water, towards the big door in the middle that still wasn't open.

What I wasn't expecting to see though, was Daxter milling around in front of the door. "Daxter?!" I asked. "Where's Jak."

"Somewhere in the tomb still." He responded, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"Okay…" I trailed off. "Why are _you _in _here_?"

"Oh. Well..." He told me about how he heroically pushed a rock out of the way to save it from hitting Jak, and ended up getting chased by it down a hall filled to the brim with many torturous devices by a giant stone, and when he finally got away from the rock, he distracted a _humongous _spider from eating a small helpless child, and ended up finding a hole, and waiting here.

I had a feeling he was lying. Just a little bit.

Another blue light shot across the room, while he was talking, mirror to the one I had set off, and I froze. Like literally, some sort of force was holding me in place so I couldn't move as the beams met up, shooting into the stone into the middle of the Founders' entwined hands, triggering the door to start slowly opening.

I watched in awe, still unable to move, until I heard a splash on the water behind us. I whipped around so fast that Daxter wobbled on my shoulder, looking for Jak.

And there he was JET boarding across the water, and I felt so much better, all the bad feelings draining away.

He walked up to me, and pulled me into a quick but tight hug, kissing me roughly, before he turned and greeted Daxter.

"Daxter, there you are!" He sounded almost relieved. It was hard to read under his voice, but it was there. "What happened to you?" Jak didn't let his emotions into his voice very often… I hadn't noticed that; he was hard to read, now that I thought about it, but I usually didn't have much trouble.

"I had a hairy experience." The otzel replied, sparing the details this time. "No thanks to you."

"Welcome young warriors." The Oracle interrupted before Daxter could say any more. "Many eons have passed since our hope burned so brightly. Today you have proven yourself to receive Mar's legacy," The Oracle said, obviously talking to Jak.

"He's talking about me!" Daxter excalimed. Or not that obviously. "Thanks, your holy-statueness." He bowed to the statue, I rolled my eyes as the Oracle directed its attention to me.

"And you; Sylence has seen fit to grant you with her legacy." Brilliant.

"This tomb wasn't so tough!" Daxter said. I hushed him."

"What you are about to receive contains grave power, and with it comes grave responsibility." The Oracle warned. "Eons ago, the Precursors waged a terrible war with the Hora-quan, those dark creatures you refer to as 'Metal Heads'. Driven by their dark leader, the Metal Head legions destroyed our great civilization, and now they swarm the universe unopposed, looking for the last relics of our power. Mar and Sylence decided to try to hide the Precursor Stone deep inside the depths of their conjoined tomb, to protect it from them. It is our last hope, and you together were chosen to keep it alive." We all walked forward, over the bridge and almost up to the statues.

That sounded great and all, but I think they've got the wrong people here, Jak and I couldn't run a city… The Oracle was putting his faith in the wrong place.

"I think you've got us confused with some other people." Jak said. "We're just here for the Stone."

"It is time to fulfill your destinies! Behold!" All eyes turned towards the two statues in front of us. They were facing one another, rather than us, their foreheads touching, hands in the middle, wrapped around a glowing green stone.

"Wow! Let's get the goods!" Daxter said enthusiastically, starting to walk over the second bridge.

He was interrupted by a red flying spider mech flying in from behind us, landing directly in between the two statues, bracing itself on top of the stone hands and arms.

"You fools!" Praxis yelled, and I took a deep breath not to scream in frustration. "You brought me right to the Stone! Your pitiful Underground friends were no match for my guards above!" Wait he took over the Underground? Aww man! "Now I will gain the power I need to crush my enemies!"

He shot a small bomb at the bridge between us and the statues, and it caused a small explosion, shattering the bridge. Daxter jumped back, almost caught in the blast.

"And after claiming the Stone, I'll begin with you!" Well wasn't that sweet?

The Baron took the mech suit and started pulling at the stone. The Oracle didn't like that, though. "Abomination!" It practically screamed. "The Precursor Stone was not meant for you!" But it was meant for us? Yeah right.

Emergency lockdown kicked in, or something, and the doors slammed shut, leaving nothing left to do but battle the Baron for the Stone.

As if my life wasn't exciting enough.

**A/N:**_I liked this chapter :D_

**xMonster**


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Torn Actually _Does _Have Feelings!  
>Music: I Just Want To Run by Downtown Fiction<p>

'_I just wanna run, hide it away  
>Run because they're chasing me down<br>I just wanna run, throw it away  
>Run before they're finding me out<br>I just wanna run, I just wanna run_

Mood: Hungry :3  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents.<br>Question: Do people actually watch the Olympics? Like, I'm not even watching it right now even though my country is winning (Not China, America) I just don't get the thrill of it, it just lowers my self esteem. I'm like there's no way I could do that gahh im so fat. And the opening ceremony wasn't all that great, and the queen looked bored. 

Praxis lowered the Mech's claws and started drilling at the stone, despite the Oracle's protests, shooting out a set of electrified Spider Mech's to distract us.

They weren't hard to kill, nor very time consuming, Jak and I splitting up to take different sides and meeting up back in the middle of the half circle.

Praxis shot bombs next, still drilling, yelling pointless things that no one was listening to. I'd noticed that the Baron liked to talk a lot.

The bombs were easy to backfire on Praxis; a simple kick and they'd shoot back to the Spider Mech and blow up, knocking down his health.

Four bombs later, Praxis was getting angry. He shot out another line of Spider Mech's, but this time, he pulled away from the stone to shoot at us periodically, but when we took out all the electrodes, he went back to drilling, shooting more bombs at us, obviously not having learnt from his mistakes.

I kicked three bombs at him, missing one, and hoped that Jak had at least hit two, too.

"He's got the Precursor Stone!" Daxter exclaimed in distress, and my head snapped up, looking, and hi, Praxis had the stone in the Mech's hands. _Great._

He took the stone and attached it to the heart of the machine, and flew over to where Jak and I were standing. He used the stone to generate some sort of green electricity that flowed from it and zapped the half circle bridge that we were on, a little piece of it collapsing.

He shot off more bombs, and started shooting, before stopping to talk again. I kicked a bomb and it exploded in his face, and he flew off it a huff, ready to electrocute more parts of the bridge. Jak got one in just before Praxis got too far away.

The Baron moved to another section of the bridge, and blasted it, sending out more bombs. Two more kicks to bombs, and Praxis was done for, the Spider Mech spinning away and crashing to the floor. I couldn't help but let my hopes rise a little bit; we may have actually done him in. Those hopes were crushed when a pod rose out of the ashes, Praxis and the Stone within its depth.

I cursed loudly, kicking a piece of rubble and sending it soaring until it crashed into the wall as Praxis said, "Nice try, but the Stone is still mine! Don't worry... I will use the Stone to its full potential. Soon, all who oppose me will be destroyed by its power!" He flew off, through the middle of where Jak and I were standing, watching him, and we both had to dive to opposite sides to avoid getting hit. I almost barreled over the edge into the abyss below, but caught myself on the ledge, pulling back up, standing next to Jak who was staring in the direction the Baron went, glaring fiercely.

xMx

The map was suspiciously blank, none of the usual people on it. Either they were all on a mission, or something _very _bad had happened. I was leaning towards to latter.

Torn was the only one left, from the Underground, no Tess, no Katie, no Shadow. I couldn't even see Ashelin anywhere. Or Kor, or either of the kids.

We headed towards the Hideout, and were met with a very distressed looking Torn. He looked… utterly broken.

"How did the Baron know we were making a close move to the Stone?" Jak asked him. I didn't know what to do. Torn was sitting on a bench, eyes down, head in his hands.

"It's my fault." He said, his voice wrecked. My eyes widened as I glanced at Jak, who looked just as surprised as me, his brows scrunched in as he glared at Torn suspiciously. "The Baron… He took Katie… he threatened to kill Ashelin for spying." He ran his hands through his hair nervously. "His own daughter! I couldn't risk either of them, even for the Underground." I stared at the ground, not wanting to look up. I didn't know what my feelings were right now.

"Right!" Daxter dragged out the word scornfully. "Very good thinking... except Praxis has the Precursor Stone now, so he can do whatever he wants!" He watched Torn reproachfully. I watched on in worry, I felt bad for Torn, but he had _betrayed _us.

"There is still a way to get our friends back and maybe the Precursor Stone as well." Torn said, standing up to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. It hit me then how short I was compared to Jak and Torn. I was like a midget. Kind of intimidating. I mean, I was only four or five inches shorter than Jak, but Jak was three or four inches shorter than Torn, and the numbers kind of just added up. "I'll find Vin. Go to the fortress, and we'll call you."

"And why should we trust you?" I asked quietly, not looking up from the ground.

"Because you and I both know the Baron would have killed Ashelin!" Torn said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Katie, too." I looked up at his face, then back down. I felt tiny and helpless as I just stood there nodding.

"It'll be a tough ride through the fortress, probably suicide." Torn warned, turning to talk to Jak. I turned around and walked away, head still hanging, running my hand through my hair, heading towards the door, my thoughts heavy in my head.

"You just get that door open!" Jak snapped. "We'll be there!"

xMx

I stopped to regain my composure before Jak saw me, and within seconds, my careful mask of anger was back up and we were heading off to the Fortress door, to rescue our friends. We were pretty much going back to the place that all of _this _started.

The inside looked pretty much the same as it had last time, except this time, there was no tank, and the door we had used was blocked off by fallen debris. The only way forward was through the gate that had been electrified before, but wasn't now.

As Jak and I approached, I could hear the guards talking to one another. Jak and I moved together soundlessly, taking out the guard before he could sound the alarm for the other guards.

Our attempt at stealth was unnecessary, though, because to the left was another one that alerted all the others before we could get him out. A swarm of KGs came at us then, flying Mechs and KGs on foot, all in one wave.

As we were taking out the guards, I took note of the buttons that the KGs had been guarding originally, knowing we'd probably need it later.

I almost got hit by a flying Mech's bullets, and Jak almost fell from jumping to one of the platforms, and Daxter just about lost his balance and fell off Jak's shoulder, but other than that, we made it through the KGs relatively safely, reaching a second room with an electrified gate.

We went back and pressed to buttons that were in the other room before returning to the room and hitting the button in there. The gate turned off, and we proceeded through.

There were red lasers on the floor, and I would have stepped through one if Jak hadn't pulled me back in time. I was pretty sure that the lasers were sensors for Tracking Turrets, so it was probably a good idea to stay out of them.

There was two on the main floor, one on the ground and one about a foot back and up a little past head height.

Another one was scanning over a gap between two floors, but we jumped over it just fine, vaulting into the little canyon below. There were straight electrical pulses going over the gaps, but they were easy to jump over, and we made if up to the other side.

There were more lasers, this time touching together to form an X over the rail in the middle, then scanning out in opposite directions. I took advantage of that, JET board grinding over the rail when the gap was available, hearing Jak get the hint and follow after me.

The next room was some sort of training room, with a grate on the top and all sorts of obstacles to run around. The KGs shot down from above, seeing us, but not really having means to stop us, so we just ran through, dodging the shots, until we reached the other edge, a little singed, but otherwise unhurt.

A few KGs were hiding behind a barrier ahead of us, along with two or three red KGs in mech suits, and I went for the flying ones while Jak took out the hiding ones.

More lasers were scanning the floor past the barriers, they were easy to get over by jumping over the X they created in the middle of the floor.

The next room was the torture room. _Our _torture room. I felt myself getting angry, but I swallowed it down, staring at the mangled remains of two chairs that were sitting in the middle of the floor, broken and shattered and obviously unwanted.

I followed behind Jak as he went to the prison cells, pressing the big red unlock button.

"Hey there sweetheart!" Daxter greeted, leaning casually against the wall as the door opened, revealing her and Katie standing there. "The Metal Head masher has saved the day! Oh, and I let Jak and Maddy tag along too." He hooked his thumb behind him to where Jak and I were standing. I was still staring at the chairs, flooded with two years worth of bad memories.

"Oh, my little hero!" I heard her say, excitedly.

Jak tugged on my hand, pulling me towards the second cell. The door opened revealing the Shadow. "Samos," Jak asked hesitantly, seeing the irritated look on the leader's face, "are you alright?"

Another person hooked around the corner, looking at the two of us standing at the door, I felt my eyes widen and my mouth drop open as my gaze flicked between the two.

"What took you so long?" Samos griped. Older Samos, that is. "I added six rings to my trunk waiting for you two to get me outta here!" Fuck. It hadn't been six years. There was _no _way.

The old sage only then got a really good look at us, his face turning to shock. I realized this was his first time seeing us. Now we had to go through this all again. "Great Yakow horns! What happened to you Jak? And who's this?" He looked to me, blinking. I gave a false salute. "_Maddy_?" He asked, fixing his glasses. Did I _really _look that different? I mean, my hair was a different colour, and my eyes were too, I had big ears now, and I was taller and wearing different clothes… Oh. "What did they do to you two?"

"Wait a minute!" Daxter exclaimed, his eyes bugging out as he jumped out of Tess's grip to point at young Samos. "You're you!" He pointed to old Samos. "I mean the other you!" He pointed back at young Samos. "I mean... you know what I mean." He hooked his fingers back over, stumbling backwards, untangling the confused X his hands had made.

"Yes, it appears I have an older time twin." Young Samos acknowledged, turning to his older self. "Great grass grubs. I can't believe what a cranky old log I've become!"

"Two Samos the Sages?!" Daxter yelled, running around in nervous circles. "Aaack, Jak, they're multiplying!" He finally settled behind Jak's legs, clutching them.

"We need to find the kid, pronto!" Older Samos said.

"What are you talking about, old growth?" I sighed. "The kid already opened the tomb. Our top priority should be to disrupt the Baron's forces!"

'Ol Green Stuff got offended by his younger self. "Oh, look who thinks they sprouted." This can't go over well. If you were half as wise as I am, you'd know that the proper cause of action is to find the kid!" He smacked his stick on the ground. I noticed everyone watching them with irritated eyes flicking back and forth as the fight progressed. I was no different.

"Listen, you old dried up leaf." The younger version said. I heard a small noise coming from behind us, and turned to see that Torn had contacted Vin safely and the Warp Gate was back online. I turned to tell Jak, but saw he had seen it too. "I run this outfit, and I say we go after the Baron's forces."

"Do we have to separate you two?" Daxter deadpanned, shoving his way between the two.

"Vin's activating the Warp Gate." I said, interrupting the ongoing battle, pointing to the gate. Tess and Katie were already heading to it.

"We need to get out of here _now_!" Jak finished, with a grimace as we both walked over to the Teleporter Ring, diving through, ignoring everyone else.

Nothing good could come from more than one Samos the Sage.

Just.

No.

**A/N: **_I love the little battle between the Sages lol, theyre great._

_LadyAmazon: It's this old game PS2 game I found in the back of my drawer called Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. I think it was made in 2003, but it's a super rad game. I would suggest it to anyone that can get their hands on it. But it's one of those games that when you die you go back to your previous save, and im stuck on a boss and last time I saved I had 2 health (Out of like 10) And there's no way to get any more health and it's a total bummer cuz I totally can't beat it._

**xMonster**


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Krew and His Resident Slimebags (But Not Sig)  
>Music: Headfirst for Halos by My Chemical Romance<p>

'_And I think I'll blow my brains against the ceiling!  
>As the fragments of my skull begin to fall,<br>Fall on your tongue, like pixie dust,  
>Just think happy thoughts.'<em>

Mood: Awaked  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents.<p>

"You guys are alright, and since the boss is out of it right now, I'm going to give it to you straight." Sig said worriedly. After leaving the Tombs, we had decided to stop by the saloon. Krew was taking a nap, his tiny twig legs twitching, but Sig was there, sitting at one of the many tables, so we had joined him. "I've been Krew's heavy for years, and I've done things I'm not proud of," He looked down, shaking his head. "but this time, I think Krew's gotten himself and us, into something really nasty. I'm thinking of getting out." Good for him. At least he could. We _needed _Krew. His connections were too valuable to give up, even if it meant having to work for that nasty slimebag and deal with his lusty, leering gazes.

Krew let out a loud snore, shuffling his feet in the air.

"Ohh... Sig's beginning to like us!" Daxter said, jumping from where he was sitting between me and Jak and onto the table, spreading his arms out. "Come here you bug lug! Hugs for everyone!"

"Knock it off!" Sig snapped. I didn't like how serious he sounded; he was usually such a chill, relaxed, happy guy. "I think Krew's trying to..." he stopped talking at the sound of shuffling and faster snores from Krew, all of our heads turning to the fat man. "Shhh... he's waking up..." He rushed, waving his hand.

"Relaaaax..." Daxter drew out, running his hand over his ears, slicking them back. They popped right back up. "watch me butter up bun boy." He jumped off the table, and went towards Krew.

"Hey there, stuffed crust." Daxter saluted looking up. "How's it feel floating on top of the food chain?" Krew looked down at him in confusion, but his expression morphed into the glare he usually had when looking at Daxter, flying over. "Whooooo... Krew meister... have you been exercising? You're looking good!" I smirked as Daxter tried to hide his revulsion as he looked at the jiggling fat and circulation tubes. "You are definitely... living large! And those _legs_... they're so, ah, chiseled." He said it like a question, gesticulating madly to the tiny noodles hanging off the bottom of Krew's chair that I _guess _could have resembled legs.

"I need you to escort three of my boys down into the sewers and visit that statue again." Krew instructed without even batting an eye. "I've heard that that statue might contain another secret, and I want you to see if the stories are true, ey?" I glanced over at Sig, who was glaring at his coffee, drinking it anyways. He slammed the cup down in anger, looking up in a sort of disappointed frustration. I gave him a sympathetic look, but he just grimaced back. "Make sure all three of my boys get to that statue, and they'll do all the rest, hmmmmn?" Krew flew away.

Sig grabbed his coffee and walked to the bar, putting it away. Taking that as our queue to leave, Jak, Daxter and I all left, heading down to the sewers to go meet with the scumbags that were working for Krew.

xMx

"Quiet!" A nasally voice said as the elevator to the sewers opened, revealing three men. "Here comes pretty boy." The same person spoke. "Oh and he's brought us a little treat. C'mere Sugar." A short skinny man with a red bandana put his hand on my arm, leering. Jak cocked his gun, pointing it at all of them, but mostly the talking one, as I just rolled my eyes, ripping my arm away. "You didn't say she was _yours._" He put his hands up in protest.

"Okay let's do this," Another one said. I couldn't tell which one it was, they all had bandanas over their mouths, but I thought it was the one to the left of me, with some sort of version of a Krimzon Guard mask over his face. "Krew said you'll protect us all the way to the statue."

We all got on the elevator, the three men staying behind me and Jak, letting us head forward first to whatever dangers were there.

"I've got thirty keyes of highly explosive material strapped to my back," The only voice I hadn't heard yet said, a sort of gruff grumbling.

"Yeah," The higher voiced, fatter one with the KG mask said, "Why did we sign up for this?"

"Just shut your whiny traps and keep moving!" The nasally one said, following us as we stepped off the elevator and walked down the hall behind us.

"Uhh," The fat one asked nervously, "Did you hear that?"

"We are _so _dead," The gruff voiced one exclaimed.

"Shut up!" The first one said. I was starting to figure out he was the leader. "I'll go ahead." He walked ahead of both of me and Jak. He was met with a Spider Metal Head, and he let out a terrified scream. "Ahh! It's a Metal Head!" He shot at it with the tiny red pistol, which only succeeded in pissing the thing off more, and back up into me. My hands twitched; he would be so easy to knock out right now. His voice was already getting to me.

Instead, I loaded my Scatter Bow, and blasted another one of the spiders.

"Nice work," The leader said, acting like he hadn't just been screaming like a girl. "Those were some _nasty _Metal Heads." He stopped and looked around the room, freezing in terror when he saw the Spiders coming towards all of us. There weren't even that many. "Ahh! They're crawling down the walls!" He cowered behind me as I adjusted my stance, spreading my legs and shooting at the encroaching Metal Heads that Jak wasn't getting, protecting the three goons behind me.

"We're clear, let's move," The scrawny leader moved from behind me, walking forward to the blocked off gate. I followed close behind them to make sure that they didn't die as Jak scanned the perimeter, checking for more Metal Heads. "This is where I come in," I turned to see the gruffer one handing the leader some sort of stick. "Cover your ears!" I watched in fascination as he set up a few sticks on the wall, tucking them into little crevices.

"More like cover your _ass,_" One of the other goons responded, laughing and running away. I took a hint and went and tucked myself next to Jak, the leader following after us, crouching right next to me.

"Better keep yer head down, Sugar," He said, just as a loud boom resonated through the room, sending bits and pieces of debris about the room.

"Man Jinxx," The big one asked. I assumed the leader was Jinxx. "What'd you put in those boom sticks?"

Everyone moved forward, "Yer bad breath!" Jinxx sneered. "Let's move." Shouldn't Jak and I be the ones giving the orders?

"I _love _this job!" The gruff voiced one said.

We got to the end of the hall, Jak leading and me in the back when more Spider Metal Heads started dropping. "Ahh! More of those monsters!" Jinxx yelled.

"They're coming from behind too!" The big one yelled. I whipped around, bow aimed and killed the ones that I could see. There was one attacking the big guy, and he was cowering in fear, frantically shooting his pistol. I shot the thing, skewering its brains to the walls, not listening to the big guy's thanks.

I heard the faint tinging of Jak's Blaster gun being shot, so I assumed he was getting the ones in the front, and that was one less thing to be worried about

"Great, now we're trapped!" The gruff voiced one said in distress as more dropped from the ceiling, but I easily took them out.

Jak took out the last two, and waited for the rest of the party to continue on. "You're pretty handy with that iron, blondie," Jinxx said, flicking Jak's gun as he walked past. I saw Jak's twitch on the trigger.

"Maddy's my hero!" The big one wrapped his arms around me and I snarled at him, turning around so fast that he had an arrow under his chin, slicing, before he even knew what was happening. At the terrified look in his eyes, I took a deep breath, and lowered the arrow to the ground and letting the string go slack.

"Shut up, Mog!" Jinxx said, oblivious to the fact that I almost blew his friend's brain out.

I growled, but let them walk forward ahead of me, keeping a careful arrow to the ground. "I've got a bad feeling about this place," The gruff-voiced one said as he passed by me. I rolled my eyes; like he was doing anything.

"I wanna go home, Grim," Mog said mournfully, passing by me to and stepping on the elevator. I followed last, still staying in the back, ignoring the overwhelming urge to inch around to where Jak was. We wouldn't get the mission done that way.

We all got off the elevator and continued down an area with dregs of sewer water still stuck in its divots. "Here they come again!" I heard Jinxx yell, and then the snip of Jak's gun shooting.

"Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em!" Grim urged, pushing my shoudler to turn to the Spiders behind me. They were panicking too much. I easily took both of them out with four arrows, and turned to see Jak was done with his and waiting for the rest of the group.

I gave him a two-fingered salute, meaning that we were good to go, and Jak nodded, continuing down. "Nice fighting man," Jinxx complemented, smacking Jak's back. "I'm beginning to like you." What was I? Chopped liver?

Before I could even get into that train of thought, Jinxx was off complaining again, "Whoa! Beams of death!" I assumed he was talking about the blue beams on the floor, and peaking around the corner showed three spiders standing in a wall, shooting the beams, scanning the floor. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if we touched the beam. "We'll just stay right here until you take care of them."

Jak went for the spider on the far left and I went for the one on the far right, acknowledging our secret rule, switching places and both shooting at the middle spider.

"I could do that," Mog said, looking over at Jak and my perfect body language and faultless methods of dealing with enemies.

"You wish," Jinxx snorted, following after us. I didn't even bother to go back to the back yet; there was another set of Beam Spiders just around the corner that we seamlessly took out. "Good as a ballerina," The leader complemented, walking past. I let them go, following.

The whole group reached a branched off room with a blocked out door. "Keep back!" Grimm warned as we all stepped back.

"One unclogged sewer coming up," Jinxx laughed nasally, running up to us. I noticed that even now, the three were hiding behind me and Jak. Cowards.

The door blew open, and Jinxx sat there with a satisfied smirk before asking worriedly. "Ya hear that?" He looked over to the two of us. I tuned my ears in, and I heard a small click click noise, and a soft shuffling, getting progressively louder.

"Sounds like I've got gas…" Mog trailed off.

Jak pushed my chin up to the ceiling, and I looked up and jumped; there were spiders _everywhere. _Like literally, there had to have been hundreds. "Ahh!" Grimm exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders to stay stable. "The ceiling's crawling!"

"Jak! Maddy! Metal Heads everywhere!" Jinxx said, his eyes flicking around frantically.

"It's a trap!" Mog said sorrowfull.

Fuck these guys. I loaded my bow, aiming, back to back with Jak, waiting for the swarm. He glanced at me, and I nodded.

Spiders started dropping from all sides, in between Krew's goons, who couldn't do much with those puny pistols, and me, and in front of Jak, landing with faint splashes in the water, crawling over.

I braced my shoulder against Jak's, feeling how tense it was, and started snipping all the spiders that were getting near the terrified guys, and when I had the time, taking out ones on the ceiling before they could drop.

I think I almost shot Grim, but it was his fault for getting in the way. I had to agilely work and arrow around Mog's back and over his shoulder as he decided to take on one himself. I noticed the big guy looked extremely surprised when it actually dropped, but zoned in on the arrow sticking out of its neck.

Jak and I continued shooting, and everything was going good, and we were holding down the fort, still not having moved from our original back to back position.

Soon, the spiders started dropping at lesser speeds and in lesser amounts, until finally, they stopped dropping all together.

I let out a sigh, letting out all the tension in my body, dropping against Jak's back for just a second, before getting back up and checking on the three behind us. They were all unharmed, a little shaken, but unharmed.

"Man, I _hate _spiders!" I heard Grim tell Mog.

"Let's get out of here before more come out!" Jinxx order, walking through the now unclogged door. I followed close behind them, knowing that if I looked away for even a second, they would probably end up in trouble again.

The next room was the last room, though, and there was the statue of Mar and Sylence, both standing heroically, swords raised in opposite directions, standing back to back, like how Jak and I had been braced only moments before.

"Ooh, pretty statues," Mog said, walking up to it and taking off the can that was on his back. All three of the goons got close to the statues and began to work. Daxter started to follow, but came back to where Jak and I were standing in the back when Jak held his hand out, telling him to stop.

"Stand back," Jinxx warned, flicking his eyes over his shoulder at us. "We're professional." They all finished situating the little pipes on the statue which looked suspiciously like… "Alright boys, let's blow this sucker sky high!"

"Wait!..." I yelled, holding my hands out; they couldn't just blow up a statue of the founders of Haven City!

"Who told you to...?" Jak asked, the realization hitting him then.

"NO!" Our yells chorused as the men took off and the statues exploded. The blast blew me backwards, and I smacked the wall full force, making a sort of gruesome angel on the wall before falling down to the ground.

I got back up, though, ignoring the pain, making my way back to Jak and Daxter, who were climbing out of the rubble themselves.

A broken version of Mar's head slid towards us, cut off at the neck, and Jak grimaced at it angrily. We both looked up and Jinxx's sound of accomplishment. "That's what we're looking for, the Heart of Mar gem! Too bad Sylence didn't have a heart to go with it!" The man was holding a glittering red stone with gold inlays.

I heard Jak start growling, and I took a deep breath, running my hand through my hair, trying to calm myself down. If Jak was getting angry, I knew I wouldn't be much better. How could they have just done something like that? That was a brilliant statue! And they just… _blew it up!_

"Thanks for the escort, buddy. We'll take it back to Krew!" Jinxx turned around, leading the goons, none of them realizing the vindictive stares they were getting from me and Jak, nor the sudden burst of electric tension in the air, probably from me.

I knotted my fingers into Jak's hair, trying to calm us both down, but it didn't help much, and the only difference I noticed was his hair started to get staticy from me.

They actually just did that, and then _left_? I was beyond mad. I couldn't believe it. I turned my head into Jak's shoulder, biting him. I didn't mean to, but that was the least violent thing I could think of, and it seemed to work and bringing both Jak and myself down from our anger highs.

Jak took a deep breath and stopped growling, Daxter finally seeing it fit safe to jump back on Jak's shoulder again.

We all left, calmed down, not by much, but now I was less likely to go on a murderous rampage, so I'd call that better.

I actually don't know why I was so angry about it. I mean, yeah, it was a statue of our city's founders, but something in that just hit home.

I ran my hand through my hair again, checking the map. The second class race was today.

Now I had to deal with Keira while I was still bitterly angry.

Let's see how that turned out.

**A/N: **_Aww, thank you for the compliments on my music taste, I know it's perfect 3 You should see my Itunes library lol._

_LadyAmazon: I actually haven't played any FF games past FFX. I got stuck on like the last battle with Seymour and it totally blows. I hate how in practically all the FF games the cut scenes are super long in front of bosses, and then like when you die, you have to watch the whole cut scene over and over again and just GAH. And I tried cheats, but there's not really any for it, and that just totally blows :C_

**xMonster**


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26:** The Racers Like Womanly Assets and That's The Only Way To Win  
><strong>Music:<strong> Take it Away by The Used

'_Brother and sisters  
>I'm right here with you<br>Cause everyone's got one  
>A story to kill me<br>I'm so apathetic in my resentment  
>Living, loving, knowing not'<em>

**Mood:** Geeky -.- (I was just playing DnD while watching Star Wars, then I stopped to write a story about a video game. This is my life…)  
>Disclaimer: Writers lie, just like your parents.<br>**Note:** So I was eating popcorn while typing this, and I got butter/grease on all the keys except the Q. So I pressed it so it wouldn't feel lonely.

As we entered the stadium, we were met with Erol leaving, "Well if it isn't the team of _Eco Freaks,_" He sneered upon seeing us.

"Where's Keira?" Jak asked. I guess he was right to ask… I mean I didn't like her, but I didn't like Erol more… maybe…

"Don't worry, I'm keeping a close eye on her." Erol said, circling around me and Jak, eyes roving over us, sizing us up. "You two are the talk of the town, you know that?" Were we really? "You give the people hope... how pathetic." Did we really? "I would have enjoyed killing you both in prison, but now, it'll be so much more fun to take you on the track, in front of the entire city. I can hear the roar of the crowd now... as everyone sees their hope _die..._" I clenched my fists. Nothing good would come from punching Erol. Yeah. I kept telling myself that.

From the entrance to the garage, Keira came in with Old Samos. "It's good to have you back daddy." She said, clasping her hands together.

"Yes, it's nice to be free again." The Sage responded reverently, following Keira out of hearing range and into the garage.

"You know, Keira _loves_ a winner." I strained my ears to hear what Erol was whispering in Jak's ears. "Someday she'll be _my _mechanic. And I'll be on the sidelines, laughing as your pretty Eco Freak here leaves you for someone _better,_" Erol planted the seed in Jak head.

I stood on my tiptoes, whispering into Jak's other ear to counter act Erol, the black bandana over my mouth hiding the fact that I was talking. "I'll never leave you, Jak."

"You know, I wouldn't mind having _two _girls on the sides. Maybe Ashelin too. I'm sure your slut would put out for just a _few _credits."

"Why would I be with someone that practically eye fucked me in prison every day?" I asked quietly. "And Ashelin's too smart. She would never do that."

"Or maybe just a pretty weapon. Or someone to protect her and do the dirty work." Erol whispered mock-thoughtfully. "I could do that. I'm sure your girl would be _very_ easy to take from you, Jak."

"Stay away from her!" Jak burst out quietly, but angriliy, glaring at the man. Erol just walked out, laughing maniacally.

Jak wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight. I kissed him fiercely, whispering sweet nothings in his ears, trying to make the insecurities that Erol had evoked go away. Why did that man have to ruin everything?

"Ah, Erol's the_ best _racer I've _ever_ seen." Kiera said, walking back out with her father, interrupting out moment without even a blink of an eye. I glared at her. She didn't even _know _the kind of stuff Erol got into. Who the fuck was she to tell?

"He's not what you think." Jak said sincerely, uncrossing his arms.

"And you're a good judge of character?!" She asked. I wanted to punch her. "HA! Look at you! People say you get angry and... change." She said it like it was the biggest secret. "Besides, the Jak I knew wouldn't be working for a guy like Krew." She said vindictively.

I had my bow out in front of me before I could even think about it. She was _way _out of line. I was stopped by Daxter, who put his hand on my arm, shaking his head frantically, eyes sad.

"I need Krew's connections to fight the Baron! Without my..." Jak stopped, shaking his head, breathing out loudly. "You know what? Do it your way, and I'll do it mine. Just don't come crying to me when the walls fall down." He growled, purple sparks flying off of him already as he walked out of the garage, leaving me and Daxter.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I drew my fist back and punched Keira as hard as I could in the face, hopefully breaking something.

I got up to walk out and follow after Jak, calm him down before he did something stupid.

Daxter's nervously laughter stopped me from walking, "Uhh… Maddy… you're not leaving too… who's gunna race…?" I turned around to face him, not looking anywhere but at him, afraid I would flip if I even looked at Keira, who I could hear crying somewhere. I wonder how her daddy handled that.

"Attention all drivers, the Class Two races will begin soon." The computer voice said, and I grimaced. No matter how bad I wanted to go after Jak, I knew the right thing was so go race; I couldn't just leave Daxter like that; Jak would want me to.

I crouched down, looking him in the eyes. "Look, Dax, I'll race. You go find Jak. Don't let him do something stupid," I begged. "There's an open seat in the stands, next to Katie and Torn. Ashelin has it for me. Try to get him to go there." I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Don't let him do something he'll regret." I finished, kissing Daxter's head and walking out without another word.

I heard him scamper off in the opposite direction as I headed towards to driver's entrance, signed off for our team, and entered, getting on the bike-zoomer, and feeling it get lowered to the ground with the rest of the racers.

A quick glance to the stands showed that Jak and Daxter weren't there, but Katie, Torn and Ashelin were all there, looking worried at the sight of just me. I gave them a tiny salute and a nod, trying to convey that Jak was okay, pulling on my bandana and goggles.

I didn't get a chance to see if my message got through or not, because the light lowered down, flickering down to green and beeping, and we were off.

I pressed the clutch, leaning forward over the bike, maneuvering my way around the other drivers, trying to get by. I clicked the boost button on a straight away, blasting forward, putting me in first and a little bit ahead of the drivers.

I turned the corner sharply, the tail end of the Zoomer drifting a little too high and slowing me down, but no one over took me.

Someone was riding dangerously close to me, so I swerved dangerously, and he got confused, careening into a wall. I smirked, pressing down harder on the pedal, pushing the racer forward.

I almost crashed in one of the divots on the floor, but made it over it with a boost, but I had to make a huge turn to avoid hitting the wall.

This was why I didn't drive; I mean, I was okay at it, but Jak was better. I could only hope that I could win this and help us qualify.

I passed over the checkered starting point for a fourth time, still in first on the fourth lap. People kept getting really close, and I had to be careful to throw them off or else I was going to get over taken.

Another almost-mess up was when I forgot to weight-transfer before I hit the turn, and almost flew over the edge because the turn was not near as big as it should have been. I hit the button at the last minute, though, and saved myself from 'death-by-gaping hole'.

I passed over into the last lap, still having a pretty sufficient hold on first, but there was no way I was letting up the throttle for even a second to check the tracker map, so I didn't know how close.

Boosting over another straight gave me time to check the map, and I realized I was a turn and another straight from winning. I pressed all my weight forward, squeezing the throttle as hard as I could.

I passed over the line, and skidded to a halt on the other side, panting, and pulling up my goggles. I glanced to the crowd as all the other racers pulled in behind me, and I saw Jak smirking and giving me a thumbs up.

I got up from where I was still straddling the bike, and moved forward, grabbing my trophy and leaving like it was no big deal.

xMx

"I sure showed those Class Two losers a thing or two." I said mock-contemptuously, walking back into the garage. Daxter and Tess were there, along with Keira, who was looking suspiciously bruise free, and Katie. I assumed that Samos had used his magical sage-like powers to fix her face. I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed.

"You keep telling yourself that, sugar." Daxter said flippantly. "They were just too busy staring at you to race."

"Whatever it takes," I shrugged, flipping my hair over my shoulder and we all busted up laughing. Well all of us but Keira.

"Well that's not fair," Jak said, kissing my neck. I jumped, not having realised that he had come in.

"Well I might as well flaunt my 'womanly assests.'" I said, jutting my right hip out.

"Keep flaunting those and see what happens," Jak said, his voice a touch lower, and only half joking.

"Oh yeah?" I asked with a raised brow, pouting.

"Yea-" Jak began to respond, but he was cut off by Daxter.

"Oh get a room, would you?"

"You're one to talk," I snickered, flicking my hand toward him and Tess. I heard Katie let out a laugh in the corner.

I turned back to Jak, "So, have you realized I'm a better driver than you yet?"

"Oh definitely," He said, his voice absolutely dripping sarcasm.

I just laughed.

xMx

Two Samos's in one room was something I never thought I would ever have to face. It's something I never _wanted _to face.

"The Baron is still up to his old tricks." Old Samos said upon seeing us, studying the map in front of him, standing next to his time-twin. That was probably one of the weirder sights I had seen in a while.

"The Underground got word that several Krimzon Blast Bots are zeroing in on the hideout here." The younger one said, looking worriedly down at the map.

"They're armored bombs which seek all targets. If any of these Blast Bots reach this place, we're dead!" 'Ol Green stuff explained, finishing his younger self's sentence. Oh man, was it that weird when Jak and I did that? Cuz we should seriously stop if it was.

"Ahh, what are you worried about, old man." The Shadow turned to the old one, saying scornfully mockingly. "You're almost dead anyway."

"Well, if you'd _taken_ better care of yourself, I wouldn't be in the state I am now!" Funny, he was practically blaming himself.

The younger one ignored him, "Take out those Blast Bots before they reach the hideout, you two. They have proximity defenses, so do be careful." He finished the conversation, both Samos's staring at us with the exact same expression.

We turned to head out, "Good hunting!" The both said at the same time. I slowly turned around, an eyebrow raised, to see them both waving at us innocently. I looked to Jak who just shook his head, almost smirking, pulling me out the door.

I don't think that was something I was ever going to get used to.

**A/N: **_I apolagise for the short chapter. I'm watching a Star Wars marathon with my friend and I didn't finish this last night cuz I thought I was going to have time tonight, but I didn't know he was coming over and it's like 3 am and im writing this while watching Star Wars, so im sorry about that, and im also sorry if there's like random Star Wars script in here._

_My friend is totally mocking me for writing this though, so I'm going to go before he like shuts off my laptop. One more thing though, I wanted to just say thanks because WOW in the 7 days of August, i've got 1.5 thousand views on this story and that is HUGE, guys, really thanks! Cookies to all! Especially the ones that have reviewed!_

_Razor: That is always a hard question to answer because it changes so often, so after much struggle and consulting of my best friend, he and I have decided that my favourite genre of music is punk. Not like Blink-182 and Greenday and The Used and My Chemical Romance and All Time Low and Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco and Cobra Starship, though i love all of them dearly, but like Misfits and Bouncing Souls and Black Flag and Ramones and Sex Pistols and The Clash and Smashing Pumpkins and NOFX and Flogging Molly and Dead Kennedys. And for my favourite band, it will always be My Chemical Romance, but my second favourite band at the moment is the Misfits. Thank you for the review (And I know, aren't Maddy and Sylence wicked rad :P)_

**xMonster**


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27:** The History of Coding, Presented by Vin  
><strong>Music:<strong> The Ballad of Mona Lisa by Panic! at the Disco

'_A lonely speak in conversation  
>Her words are spinning through his ears again<br>There's nothing wrong with just a taste  
>Of what you paid for<em>

_Say what you mean, tell me I'm right  
>And let the sun rain down on me.<br>Give me a sign, I wanna believe_

**Mood:** Punky  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents

The Blast Bots were big spider-like mechs that were shooting at Zoomers and buildings, making their way to the Underground Hideout. If we got too close to them, they would shoot their proximity lasers at us, zapping anything that was moving.

It took quite a few shots to get the mechs to blow up. Jak used his Vulcan Rifle to shoot at them, waiting until the thing started beeping to stop. It gave about a three second warning before exploding in a deadly blast, taking out anything around it.

We stayed in a Zoomer, me driving _again, _chasing them down as they tried to get to the Underground Hideout. All three had zoned into the Hideout's coordinates, making a straight line to the place, not stopping, each coming from different parts of the city.

I found the first one in Sector 3, by the Power Station, and we chased it down, not getting to close, Jak shooting at it to make it blow up. Shooting at it alerted the KGs who swarmed us, creating a bit of a hindrance.

The first one blew up, and conveniently blew up all the KGs that were surrounding us with its blast. I jumped out of the Zoomer and switched cars, Jak jumping in after me, and we took off again.

The second mech was just entering the Slums via the Water Slums, getting dangerously close to the Hideout. It kept walking, even while it was being shot at, making its way towards the Underground. We almost didn't get to it in time, the KGs ' Zoomers and Hellkats crashing into us and making us have to stop for a second.

It had almost lasted the last corner to get to the alleyway when we finally blew it up. I think we all let out a deep sigh before continuing on the find the last one.

The last Blaster Bot was near the edge of Sector 5, not that close, but still uncomfortably so. Jak shot at it, and it started beeping, and I almost didn't pull the Zoomer away fast enough, and we just barely made it out of the blast.

"Remind me why I let you drive?" Jak asked dryly, looking at me with an arched brow.

I smirked sheepishly, turning the Zoomer to the Port, where the Weapon Training Centre was flashing, telling us there was something there.

We arrived, crashing the Zoomer and walking inside to see a brilliant glowing yellow light over a box. I bit my lip excitedly; I loved new Weapon Mods.

Turned out it wasn't a Weapon Mod, but a new Weapon Attachment. "All right!" Daxter exclaimed when Jak hooked his onto the Morph Gun. "Our own Peace Maker1 Now we're rockin'!"

I examined the new arrows and bow; they were sharper with some sort of residue on the end. They looked almost electrified… Now that I looked at it, the string of the bow looked different too, made of a different material. I dragged the arrow along the string, and sure enough, it sparked.

Cool. Explosions.

No one wanted either of us as their hired gun at the moment, so we made our way to the Hip Hop to spend some time with Tess and Katie.

"Hey! Back to work toots. Both of you!" Krew said, showing up. It made me wonder where he came from, and how he fit through his door.

"They're working beach ball! Quit your yappin'." Daxter protested, still lying down where Tess was petting him. Both Tess and Katie widened their eyes, Katie shaking her head at Daxter, trying to get him to shut up.

"Watch it!" The fatman threatened, wagging a stubby finger at Daxter. "Or you'll be yet another trophy hung on these walls."

Daxter keeled over backwards as Krew flew away, and Tess started fanning his face with her hand. I smirked at him.

"Jak," Krew started again, turning around so we couldn't see his face. "I want you to throw the championship race. Just let Erol win..." He fanned his face. Wait... What the hell?

"You bet against us?!" Jak asked disbelievingly.

"We're your team!" I stood up next to Jak.

"Jak... Jak..." Krew said faux-fondly, fanning his face, flying down, completely ignoring me. "It's just business." He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. "You've become a symbol to these townies. They'll bet everything on a glimmer of hope." And there hatches his devious little plan; play on the towns people's hope. What a scumbag. "What better time to make money? Waddaya say?"

"What? No!" I protested, crossing my arms, staring at the slimebag incredulously. How could he actually expect us to just throw the race?

"I'd say you're going to lose a lot of money." Jak said disdainfully, turning back towards Katie and Tess. "Because we're going to race," He turned around, smirking darkly at Krew, "and I intend to win!"

"Aggghh!" Krew cried out in angry distress, flying to the ceiling. "You little... You're both becoming more trouble than you're worth!" He flew back down, shoving his face between Jak's and mine. "I wouldn't get too comfy, if I was you! Everyone's expendable!" The fatman sneered. I laughed loudly and mockingly as Krew flew away, turning back to face the wall and see Daxter faint again. We were the least expendable people out there.

"In a hurry to die?" Erol asked, cutting off whatever Jak had just turned to say. I froze in surprise, I hadn't seen him enter, but quickly regained my composure, putting back on my 'calm and collected yet still angry at the world' mask. "Well, we don't have to wait for the big race! We can do this right now! One on one," He poked Jak in the chest, looking at me pointedly before continuing. "through the city, using accelerator rings. Hit every ring from start to finish. Miss even one ring, and it's over! Keira already thinks you're a loser, and I'll prove it now, once and for all." He put his fist up in front of Jak's face.

"You're on." Jak growled, smacking Erol's fist out of the way.

"Without the girl," Erol responded as I began to follow, narrowing his eyes in disdain. I blinked. Jak raised his eyebrow, coking his head a little to the side. I twitched my nose and nodded a little.

They both made their way outside, Daxter chasing after Jak. Sure. He gets to go.

I needed to do something to distract myself. Tess and Katie both tried to talk to me, but at my obvious ignoring of them, they had stopped and walked back to the bar.

I flipped open the mini map, looking for something to do, already feelingthat 'Jak isn't here, now you're angry' feeling start to flood my being. I pushed it back, building a dam in my mind around the thoughts I didn't want.

"Jak?! Maddy?! Someone! The communicator popped up, transmitting Vin's hyper-paranoid voice. "I need one or both of you. Come see me at the Power Station. And hurry!" Perfect. Vin was a good distraction.

I headed over to the Power Station to see Vin bouncing around checking stats on the computers.

Hey Vin," I greeted walking in.

"I've got good news and bad news." The scientist started, not even noticing that it was just me. "The good news is Kor tells me that we've got enough power on-line to keep the shield walls up. So for now, the city's safe. But I don't know how long the system can hold!" He stopped puttering and turned to look at me, grabbing his face in distress.

"And the bad news?" I asked, cocking my head to the side and scanning the symbols and coding on the screen. There was something wrong with Vin's equation on the shield wall.

"We've detected a cluster of Metal Head eggs growing up at the Strip Mine site." He got on his elevator, flying up to the top most screen, scanning the equations there. "Now, you've got to go back there and find a way to destroy those eggs before they turn into a whole new army of creatures." He pointed to one particular section. I read it quickly as he talked. It was a tracker for the Strip Mine, signaling the new creatures.

"Well," I began, thinking back to the times we had been there. "I noticed the crane was carrying a large metal container. If I could jump onto the container, we could drop the crate from above." I mused thoughtfully.

"That just may work!" Vin exclaimed.

I headed towards to Warp Gate, stopping and turning back around and walking towards Vin. "Hang on…" I looked at the screen, watching as the symbols shifted to give an update on the Shield Wall's security.

Vin stood next to me nervously, watching as I flicked my fingers back and forth, typing in commands and moving things around. "Uh…" He stuttered.

"Gimme a second." I said distractedly, holding a hand up as I walked to a different screen and changed the programming there.

"Can you _not _do that?!" Vin asked frantically, watching me type. "You don't know how the wall works!"

"Vin!" I stopped him, grabbing his wrist, dragging him over to the elevator. I directed it up to the main monitor of the shield's stats. "Look." I demanded, flipping through the Sections, arriving at the coding for a small section in the back of Sector 3. I ran my fingers under the breach in coding, the small hole in the fabric of the shield that anything could get through. "There's a hole."

Vin's eyes widened in panic, completely forgetting about me as he flew back to the bottom of the room, running about, changing coding and rearranging the pieces of the shield.

I followed around near him, changing other bits to make things more secure, and to get the shield to stretch over the uncovered bit. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know how I knew how to write the coding for the shield, I just did.

I ran to another computer across the room, hacking into the search history, looking for who may have been the one the breach it, but even after my extensive search, I couldn't find anyone of that much suspicion. I only found the Palace Guards, Vin, and Kor. Of course I suspected Kor, but I wrote that off to paranoia. It must have been a fluke. None of the others would organize a breach.

"Woo!" Vin said, finally stopping behind me. "That was a close one!" He looked over my shoulder, and I stepped out of the way.

"I can't find anyone but you, the Guards, and Kor." I told him as he searched too, still coming up empty handed. I noticed that Vin was significantly less sketchy while working on computers, his fingers surprisingly steady, his whole mind set on the task.

That's what I had been doing, distracting myself with the coding, and that's what I planned to keep doing until Jak came back.

"I just don't get it," Vin said, looking back at me. "I know I didn't let the breach. Who else could have done it?!" He ran back to another computer. I followed behind him watching him as he searched the shield walls for more breaches.

I took his hint and went to the computer besides him, letting my fingers slide over the monitor, reading through the lines of code to detect other breaches that may be there. Since there was one, there might be another.

I found it strange that Vin hadn't asked about how I knew how to code and read script, but I brushed it off, wandering around the room, lining codes and trying to avoid colliding with Vin while running around the room.

"You know Sylence invented all of this," Vin told me from his spot across the room, not even looking up while talking. "It's fabled that she invented this form of coding." He gestured to the computers around him, still facing the computer. "She and Mar invented and wrote every line of script in this room." He finally looked at me. "That's pretty amazing." He looked at me. "Now, the question is, how can you do it?" I froze, looking at him half my mouth pulled down. I honestly didn't know. I opened my mouth to tell him that, but he started talking again before I could get a word out. "Since the two founders invented the code, no one found it necessary to check the stats of the Shields, and even when they did, no one knew what it was saying. It's like a hidden language." He paused looking at me, hid fingers still typing on the keys. "I'm the only one that can read and write it. I cracked the code, and I thought I was the only one to know it."

I stopped typing, adjusting the Eco levels on the grid by Sector 1. "Here's the thing, Vin." I started, pushing a hand through my hair. "I don't know." He looked at me. "I don't know how I know." I clarified. "I just kind of… _do._" I became frustrated by my lack of words. "I just… I looked at your codes, and I realized that something was wrong… I, like, instinctively knew what was wrong and how to fix it." I paused, grimacing. "Do you get what I mean?"

"No…" Vin fluttered his hands around him frantically. "But I'll take it. You remind me of someone. Something is telling me you're telling the truth."

He turned back to his computer without another word, and I did the same.

And that's the very same position Jak found us in when he finally came back.

**A/N: **_Aww cute Maddy/Vin bonding, hint at __**secret **__identities, all that. God it's a total bummer that Vin dies._

_P.S. Sorry for not posting dudes. I totally thought I did last night, but I guess I just uploaded the document and didn't post it. My baddddd._

**xMonster**


	29. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28:** Weapons of Mass Destruction  
><strong>Music:<strong> You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us in Prison by My Chemical Romance

'_In the middle of a gun fight  
>In the centre of a restaurant,<br>they say,  
>come with your arms raised high.<em>

_Well you're never gunna catch me,  
>Like a bullet through a flock of doves'<em>

**Mood:** Tired  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents. 

Vin had sent Jak and Daxter off to the Strip Mine to complete the mission while he and I finished checking the computers. We even managed to re-set up some old Eco systems to help reserve Eco for the shield.

When Jak and Daxter came back through the Teleporter, I dropped what I was doing, trusting that Vin would be able to do it himself. Daxter went up to Vin, half gushing about the mission, half messing with the computers.

"You can program computers?" Jak asked me after we finished, umm, '_reconnecting'. _

I just shrugged, "I can now." He looked at me quizzically. "I don't know. I just kind of walked in and new what to do." I explained.

"Okay." He said before turning around. "Dax, let's go!" The rat hopped away from Vin gratefully.

"Whoa! What a sack of nerves!" He exclaimed when we were finally out the door.

Before either of us could respond, the communicator popped up. "It's Samos." Which one? "I need you to go out to the ruins in Dead Town and visit my old hut." Old Samos, then. "It's now time to retrieve something that I hid there long ago. Good luck." The comm started to go away, but Samos decided he had more to say. "And _Daxter!_ Clean up the place while you're out there!" The Sage barked, actually going away this time. I rolled my eyes, getting on my JET board after Jak.

Dead Town looked exactly the same as it did last time. I don't know why I was expecting any different, though.

We JET boarded over the poisonous muck in the lakes there, going off to the right where there was a big mech.

Samos came out of the communicator again, but this time younger. "We only had time to get one Titan Suit working, the second one is still in the shop, so, for this, one of you is going to have to stay behind." He went away just as fast as he came out.

I curtsied at Jak, fluttering my hand in front of me telling him to go. "I'll follow behind on the JET board." He nodded and got into the suit. I smirked because he looked really uncomfortable.

Once Jak gained his bearings, he used the suit to smash a wall in front of us. I JET boarded around him and skated the perimeter of the room, taking out a few stray Metal Heads.

There was another wall that Jak busted through, and a really big stone cube. I shot at it, and nothing happened, so I knew it wasn't just a Metal Head in disguise. Jak used the suit to push the cube, grabbing it and moving it down to the front of a tall ledge.

I got off the board and hopped up the steps, walking along the ledge in front of the Titan Suit. There were two shooter Metal Heads around the corner, and I took them out with a Peace Maker Bomb, just because I could.

I glided around the corner, feeling the stomps of Jak in the mech behind me resonate through the shaky buildings, stopping when I came to a wall.

A few seconds later Jak and Daxter made it around the corner and busted through the wall and we all continued into the next area where there was another cube and another ledge.

Up and along the edge was a small square building with another block and two shooter Metal Heads that I took out before Jak could get there.

He pushed the cube around and to the ledge where I jumped up to it and killed yet another shooter Metal Head.

The next area was on another level, and there was a cube, but no ledges to push it to. I searched around as Jak made his was over to where I was standing, spotting the crumbling wall across the way, and the falling down pillar that would work well as a bridge.

I gestured to Jak and to the pillar when he made his way over, not knowing if he could hear at all while he was in the suit. He got the message and smacked at the bottom of the pillar, where it collapsed, creating a bridge, just like I thought it would.

I pointed to the smallish cube that was sitting around the bend, and he went to pick it up. Coming back, he threw it at the wall past the pillar and we continued along.

There was another pillar bridge to make a way across and another cube to throw before we finally reached the old hut.

I stood in silence, still feeling the shock that we were in the _future_. It just didn't seem plausible.

Jak busted the last pillar the fell over and landed on the crumbled island that led to the hut. He and Dax got out of the suit, staring at the building in sadness. I knew this wasn't my place to be sad; they had both grown up at that place and practically lived there, so I grabbed Jak's hand and pulled hima long up the steps, trying to be the strong one for once.

The inside was just as depressing as the outside, possible more. "I spent many a day cleaning up this place for old greenie." Daxter said sarcastically. Leave it to him to find humour in this.

A green seed, the only source of light in the decrepit hut, started to float down from a crevice in the top of the hut. It glided down and I reached out to grab it, staring at the beautiful form of light in the otherwise drab world.

"Good work you two!" Old Samos praised. "And... Daxter, I suppose." He said begrudgingly before continuing. "Before we came through the rift long ago, I was nurturing that Life Seed from the Great Tree. It seems the Metal Heads are attracted to its power. Take the seed to Onin now. She will prepare it for Samos." Why did Samos need it?

"You mean you?" Daxter asked skeptically.

"No, the other me, Daxter!" The Sage barked "My younger self needs the seed's power to

become... sagely." He finished. Wait… that's how he became a Sage? So…

"Let me get this straight." Daxter said incredulously, obviously putting together what I had. "It's fair to say that by bringing your younger self the life seed now, _we _helped you become the sage you are today? _We _helped you get your powers in the first place. And you never thanked us?!" The Otzel yelled dubiously.

"Thank you Daxter..." Old Samos said, with an air of someone dealing with a child. "Now go do it!" He snapped, shutting of the communication.

We went straight to Onin's tent, but were still met with an angry Pecker upon entrance Onin says what took you so long?! We had to skip lunch waiting for you two!"

I looked at him. "I doubt she really said that, Pecker."Just as I said that, Onin emitted a poof of blue sparks that rained around the monkey-bird.

" Okay... okay... She really says 'Thank you for saving the Life Seed'. But I wouldn't say that if I were her! Give Onin the seed, and she will prepare it for Samos." We were actually willingly letting Samos turn into the Sage that we knew without even trying to stop it… What had this world come to…?

I gave Onin the seed I was still cradling to me anyways, watching as she began to light it up with blue auras, swirling her hands around it.

"Mmmmmm... bird seed..." Pecker said, staring at the Life Seed hungrily.

"Back off, feather weight!" Daxter snapped from where he had been sitting on my shoulder, jumping down in front of my legs to face Pecker.

"Listen tiny tail, I was leading my hundredth flock south before you had fur one between your legs! Not that your fur means anything!" The bird insulted. Both animals were walking closer to each in front of me as I watched with amusement sitting cross legged on the ground so I was height with the animals, keeping an eye on the two like they were toddlers getting into a fight, as Jak watched the Life Seed.

"At least I'm not some over-stuffed, over yappin', feather dusty mouthpiece for the world's oldest professional!" Daxter bounced around, fluttering his arms about in a mock of the bird. "Jak says, 'have a nice day.' Jak says, 'I can't think on my own.' Jak says 'Go bite yourself!'" He glared at the bird.

"That's it, rat boy! Now you've really pissed me off!" Pecker made a karate move that Daxter mimicked, both making strange noises. I figured that was time to stop them.

"Maddy says shut the hell up," I cut in, sticking my bow in between the two who kept growling at each other.

"Knock it off, both of you!" Jak snapped at the angry animals when I stood up next to him.

"You're lucky I'm famished!" Pecker poked Daxter's chest before turning to us with an innocent but irritated smile. "Onin says take the energized Life Seed to young Samos in Haven Forest. It will give Samos the power he needs to finally see the forest from the trees! Go. Quickly." We were already walking out the door, tucking the seed in Jak's backpack because there was more room.

xMx

The young almost-Sage was meditating in Haven Forest, over in a large meadow on a wooden dam like contraption.

"Samos told us to..." Jak stared, pulling out the seed.

"He means you told us to." I cut in helpfully, scrunching up my face when the sentence didn't come out the way I had wanted it to.

"I mean your older version... ah... whatever." Jak gave up, shaking his head in irritation.

"We heard you needed the Life Seed." I said, getting to the point, taking the seed from Jak and giving it to the floating man.

"Yes. Its power will help me speak to the plants." Samos said quietly. Precursors he sounded just like the old one.

"There he is!" I heard. I pricked my ears up, listening intently and tugging on Jak's sleeve to get his attention.

"Roger. We're en route!" A slightly different voice said. Aw man. KGs.

"I see 'em!" A third one said, zoning in on us. I looked up to see three KGs flying at us in Mech suits, leading two Air Trains behind them.

Jak, Maddy, protect me from these guards!" Young Samos said frantically. "I must ask the plants vital questions about our future!" Why couldn't he wait till afterwards?

I sighed, pulling out my bow and heading to the left as Jak went to the right, waiting to defend the Sage.

The first wave of Guards was on Jak's side, so stood on a ledge and sniped from a distance as Jak took out most of them, waiting to defend my side and keeping an eye on the young Sage to make sure no KGs got him.

The second wave consisted of more KGs on foot, and a few in the air. Like always, I took the ones in the air as Jak stayed on the ground. Our system had never failed us before.

Once I took out the three in mech suits, I made my way to where Samos was floating, talking to the plants. Some of the guards were getting dangerously close to him, so I abandoned my post for a second to defend him.

Once those were out, I resumed my spot to wait for more KGs.

More came, this time solely coming from my side, so I started taking those out, throwing off what I was used to to defend myself and the Sage.

Jak moved over to Samos, shooting at the KGs from a reasonable distance.

There was only one more round after that, which consisted almost solely of flying KGs, but we took those out too.

"The Life Seed gave me a terrible vision! The Baron is planning to destroy the Precursor Stone!" I felt my eyes widen. Even the Baron couldn't be that stupid. That Stone would create a mass bomb, turning everything in even a hundred mile radius to dust. "He aims to crack it open somehow! If he does this, the energy released will be beyond comprehension! It will destroy the world and more... ending all life! The plants are crying out for protection!" I sighed. Of course he was worrying about the plants. Like old like young. "You must stop the Baron! Stop him, however you can!" Samos ordered in distress, hovering away, opening up the communicator.

"Well then…" Jak said, staring after the Sage.

**A/N: **_I have nothing to say…._

**xMonster**


	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29:** BOOM!  
><strong>Music:<strong> Explode by Patrick Stump

'_I feel like I'm gonna explode  
>Any moment<br>I'm ready to blow  
>I can't stand it, I get so worried<br>I get so low_

_But if I'm never your hero I can never let you down  
>And the sirens go oh ah oh ah'<em>

**Mood:** Irritated by pop music (i.e. Carly Ray Jepsen)  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents

Kor had alerted us that he desperately needed to see us, so we went to the Power Station next. He and the croco-dog were the only ones in there. I thought it was strange that neither of the kids were there, but brushed it off, thinking they were being babysat by someone else. Why did they leave the dog, though?

"I can't believe it! We were so close! The Baron stole the Precursor Stone right out from under us!" Kor was still complaining about that? We would get it back. I still didn't understand why he wanted it so bad. I could understand if he wanted it for the kids, for the kids to safe Haven, but his motives seemed much more selfish. He wanted the Stone for himself, and that didn't settle well with me. "And after all of our planning and hard work, Torn has betrayed the cause!" Kor growled.

"Torn meant well." Jak said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah," I agreed, halfway growling at the old man. "He was protecting some of our own."

"We must get that stone back." Kor said, apparently not able to focus on anything but that.

"We're working on it!" I snapped at him, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, we're working on it!" Daxter equoed, pushing his way between my legs to shove to the front.

"I've underestimated this Baron," Kor said sadly. "and now it appears he has taken the kids as well!" He gestured to the lonely croco-dog that looked down at the ground sadly. So that's where they were. I felt myself start growling unthinkingly; how could the Baron do that? "Think." He urged. "What will the Baron's next move be?"

There was a lot that the Baron could do next, but, undoubtedly, he'd try to get into the stone. I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off by Daxter.

"Well, if I had the Precursor Stone, with all that power, I'd use it to build a giant palace. A palace with the biggest harem of women the world has ever known, and there'd be a swimming pool filled to the brim with chocolate... slightly minty... yeah, yeah, a massive pool of gooey chocolate! Then the girls and I would jump in together..." Jak slapped the back of Daxter's head before he could continue. "What?" He asked, disgruntled.

"I want you three to go out to the Drill Platform again. If you can destroy the main control tower there, it should temporarily stop the Baron's use of eco to harm us." Kor ordered as we walked towards to Warp Gate.

xMx

There were two Titan Suits outside of the Main Control Building. I hopped into the newer one, red rather than blue, and tried to get used to it. Tried.

I saw Jak smirking at my troubles in the suit. "Not so easy, is it?" He called before lowering the face shield. I stuck my tongue out at him, lowering mine as well.

The suit wasn't that hard to use, just awkward. I had to get used to the fact that all my body parts were longer and chunkier now. I was in control of it, and the designer did a good job; the Titan Suit felt just like an extension of me.

I took a few awkward steps forwards, getting the hang of it, and when I did, I followed Jak past the door he had broken down and into a room with an elevator. We stepped on to it and waited for it to descend.

The ride was actually quite a long one, and when we finally reached the bottom I stepped off quickly. The room we were in had four security lasers shooting across the ground periodically.

Jumping in the suit was kind of hard because to get higher, I had to press a button right when I jumped to make a small jet pack to propel me upwards.

I only forgot the button once, and we safely made it across and had to bust through another door to reach the next area. The next room –if you could call it that – was floating high off the ground, with only a thin line of flooring stretching to the other wall. The only other door I could see was on another level.

Jak and I decided, through silent communication, that we had to leave the Titan Suits on the springy looking platform across the room. So that's what we did, and then made our way back to the beginning and across two spring loaded boards that collapsed with any weight on them.

There was a lever at the top, and I pulled it. The platform that the suits were on began to rise and reached the top. Jak and I headed back over and got in our suits, Jak breaking through the next door.

The next area was full of spring loaded platforms that we had the jump across _very _quickly, or else would collapse, and this time… _fire._ Jak jumped across first two boards in short bunny hops, reaching the other side, and I went second waiting for the squares to come back up before hopping after him.

The fire was easy to get across, but once again, we had to take turns. I went first this time, walking as fast as the suit would let me to get across the grate before the fire came back on, Jak coming after. There was another fire platform, that, when crossed, reached another room.

Across a few floating platforms, and through another laser room, we reached the last room. The only way across was the fire grates and a few collapsible platforms. Jak went first and I followed after when he reached the other end, and finally, we reached an elevator that took us up to the Main Control room.

There were a few Metal Heads lurking in the area. I could see two computer towers that had four computer faces on this side, and through the arch, I could see the other two.

Jak took out the Metal Heads as I was looking around, so we both made our ways to separate towers. I decided to get straight to the point, so I took the big metal fist, and smashed it through the screen. This seemed to do that trick, as the mechanical voice warned us that the backup systems were failing.

I smashed the next screen around, and then the next one, and then the last one, listening to the system's voice getting more panicked as it warned us of the dangers.

We, of course, ignored it, and made our way to the backroom, knocking out the last two.

As soon as the metal fist landed home in the monitor, the system voice said, "Backup systems futile. Emergency over ride in…" A small timer popped up on a hologram, telling us we had a minute and thirty seconds to get out of the building before we became metal meat. _Cooked_ metal meat.

I ditched the Titan Suit, knowing it would only hinder me. "Gotta run, gotta run!" Daxter exclaimed frantically as Jak and I full-fledge sprinted out of the room.

The elevator ride was torturous, still going at the same speed as it had when we came in. I hopped in my spot anxiously, diving out the door the second there was space, close behind Jak.

We both barreled over the fire grates, rolling over it as one before the fire could turn back on.

I got on my JET board through the laser room, gliding as fast as I could urge it to go, jumping over lasers and flipping over the pressure boards in the next room, still close behind Jak.

We both JET boarded over the next fire grate, praying to Mar and Sylence that we wouldn't get burnt. I only got slightly singed as the flame came back on only milliseconds after I left the platform. But, singed hair was better than being exploded.

I had to vault over a few gaps before I made it to the other side and into the next room, following so close to Jak that I was practically breathing on his neck.

I threw myself down the ledge onto one of the spring platforms, bouncing to the stable ground and running through the laser room only having to stop for one laser.

We ran through the very first room and into the elevator. This elevator went just as infuriatingly slow as the last one and I was twitching anxiously. The floating timer told us that we had nine seconds left, and if the elevator didn't make it up in time we were toast.

The elevator doors started to slowly slide open, but before I could react, Jak had already moved, pushing me in front of him and wrapping his arms around me and using his body to push me out the doors, where we barreled through the Warp Gate. I was just able to get a glimpse of a _huge _explosion racing after us before I was in the Power Strip, hunched over, panting.

xMx

Brutter called us over via the Transmitter, so we made our way to his stall.

It's Jak, and Maddy! And their little orangey pal!" Brutter greeted. I stayed stiff by Jak's side, arms crossed, trying to avoid a big Lurker hug. Daxter, however, made a beeline for the ale barrels, sticking his mouth right under it.

"Thank the totem I sees you. You help Lurkers once time, you help us twos?" the Lurker asked hopefully, blinking rapidly, head flicking between me and Jak.

"Look Brutter," Jak said plainly. "we've got our own problems to deal with right now."

"But you know big-to-do ruckus you caused at Dig?" I nodded, knowing no one else would. "I know all caves like back of claw, and Tomb of Mar and Sylence no where there! Now Metal Heads find hidden Lurker village in caves! They bite, and hurt village real bad, and we Lurker brothers trapped like animals!" He grabbed his face in distress. I frowned. We could probably fit him in… I mean we didn't have anything to do _right _now… Precursors, I was going soft.

"Ah, hello, they are animals." Daxter said obviously.

"We no longer evil-lurking, bad-to-bones, orangey boy!" Brutter fized his glasses. "We good now. Metal Headers are bad. They is enemies." He nodded.

"Yeah, I guess we're all in the same boat now." Jak said in a type of angry yet resigned way.

"And the ship is sinking fast, brother." Daxter answered, jumping on Jak's back and patting his head.

"Please, save six Lurker brothers quick, and Brutter will kiss you foots!" Daxter pulled back his foot quickly away from Brutter's face.

xMx

The Lurker carriers weren't that hard to find, and they were at least in the same area, relatively. I was driving, again, as I always did in these drive-by type missions.

We found three in the garden, but the Zoomer could only hold one at a time. I pulled up to the one closest to the Sewer Drain that lead to the Lurker hide-outs, waiting for it to crash from Jak's shooting. Once it did, I dropped zones and waited for the thing to get on the Zoomer

I quickly dropped it off and flew up to the next one. The second Lurker went to the same entrance, but the third one was now almost in Zone 6, so we had to take him into on a little into the city itself, passing by two more transport vehicles.

The two other ones both went to the inner-city entrance, and once they were off, I drove back to the gardens in search of the last Lurker.

The carrier was just barely driving in from the Bazaar, and Jak sent it crashing to the ground, and I switched to the bottom Zone to pick it up and drop it off at the garden entrance.

"Great heroes to Lurker people you be!" Brutter thanked us over the communicator. I wasn't a hero. A hired gun, assassin, hired driver, maybe, but I was no hero. "You honourary members of Lurker tribe now!"

I didn't know how I felt about that…

**A/N: **_Sorry for the shortnes…_

_Oh. My. God. I've had call me maybe stuck in my head for like three hours and I think im going __**insane. **__I thought about putting it for this chapter's song just to irritate all of you, but I figured that would be rude._

_Youre welcome._

_Now review! :D_


	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30:** Surprise Surprise  
><strong>Music:<strong> Jerry Was a Racecar Driver by Primus

'_Jerry was a race car driver,  
>he drove so god damned fast<em>_  
>He never did win no checkered flags<br>but he never did come in last__  
>Jerry was a race car driver,<br>he'd say "El solo number one"__  
>With a bocephus sticker on his 442,<br>he'd light 'em up just for fun_

**Mood:** Insane O.o  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

We made our way over to the race garage after rescuing the Lurkers because the Class One Race started in a few hours.

Keira and Samos were standing in front of the curtain that was always closed, talking quietly, neither looking up as we walked in. I heard Jak cough, and Keira looked up with wide eyes, but calmed down when she saw who it was, but still managing to throw a glare at me through the relief on her face.

I rolled my eyes at her, but walked behind Jak, attaching myself to him as much as I could, and cocking my head to listen into the conversation.

"I'll show you guys what I'm working on, if you promise not to laugh." Keira said, fiddling with the curtains. I'd probably laugh.

"Ooooo, I love surprises!" Daxter exclaimed. "And I love to laugh! Show me! Show me!" He started tugging at the curtain. Keira sighed at him, but opened the curtain anyways, revealing some sort of vehicle-like machine.

"I've been building a replica of our crashed Rift Rider machine from old artifacts." She informed, pressing a few buttons. I rolled my eyes again. Could she be focusing on _anything _less important? But I mean, getting back to our time…

"That's my girl!" Samos said fondly, stamping his walking stick.

"But I'm still missing two pieces." I blinked. Of course.

"Figures..." Samos mumbled.

"Vin says I need an artifact called the Time Map and an old energy gem history books call the Heart of Mar." She said, gesturing over to two pictures on the wall. I searched my memory because both looked _really _familiar. "And I've looked in every book on Precursor history I can find, but the Rift Ring seems to have vanished!" _Well, honey, that's cuz we're in the future._ I though snidely to myself.

"You did all this?" Jak asked, eyebrows pushing together. "I mean... that's useful." He rolled his eyes, obviously sharing my thoughts on the importance of the matter at hand.

"Oh, will you two stop moping around and make up already?!" Daxter asked, shaking his head.

Before anyone else could speak, the revelation hit me. "I've seen the both of those!" I said excitedly. Well, as excitedly as my usually blank face would allow. "Jak, Krew has them! We got him the heart, and…" I trailed off trying to peg the memory, shaking on hand in the air. Jak grabbed my wrist, looking at me in amusement as I tried to remember "Oh! Those goons brought it to him, the ones with the explosions." I looked up from where I had been staring at the ground. Both Samos and Keira were staring at me like I was mad. I got mildly offended; I wasn't _that _emotionless, usually. I mean, I was angry a lot…

The rest of my thought were cut off by Jak, who apparently realized what I had been talking about, said, "We'll get those two artifacts." He grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together, getting ready to pull me to the door, but we were stopped by the Comp's voice.

"Attention all drivers. The Class One Championship race is about to begin!" I froze up, standing stock still, wiping my face of emotion.

"Well, here goes…" Jak trailed off.

"Jak... I just wanted you to know... well, you're the best racer I've ever seen." Keira said, gazing up at him with wide, fond eyes, and _fuck_, could she make it any more obvious?

I sneered. No mention of me.

"You better keep us alive," I said, mouth twitching. "If you don't, I'm never speaking to you again." I turned my nose up, still hiding a smile.

Jak saw it and planted a kiss on my lips before pulling us out of the room, Keira yelling some encouragement to Jak in the distance.

I rolled my eyes again, thinking about how if I kept doing that, my eyes were going to fall out.

xMx

Once we were on the bike and situated, the platform we were on began to lower until we were on the ground with the other six racers. There was a big empty gap right next to our Racer, and I didn't even have to wonder who it was for.

As if proving my thoughts, Erol drove up and stopped in the spot, pulling up his mask to talk to us. "I want more than just to win, eco freaks..." Erol hissed fiercely. "I want you! _Both _of you!" Was Erol looking for like sex partners or something? Because that sounded sort of creepy. My nose twitched in revulsion, and I pulled the black bandana up to cover it and fixed the goggled on my eyes, pressing my face over Jak's shoulder to watch as a big circular platform lowered down with the Baron on it.

"Greetings, racers!" Praxis welcomed, and I hissed, I couldn't help it when I heard his voice. "Today your nerve and skill will be tested for our amusement." He brought his fingers together in a steeple, surveying the racers. I was surprised to Baron didn't notice me or Jak. But I guess we _were _hiding in plain sight. Literally. "If any of you should by some small chance beat our grand champion Erol, then you will be awarded a month's supply of Eco!" He continued and I felt my fingers twitch and light up with the remnants of Eco in my body just as the thought of more. I widened my eyes and focused on putting it out, because if anything was going to get us noticed, it was definitely that. Praxis lowered his voice and his eyes, speaking quickly and quietly. "And a short tour of my palace to see how the other half live. Good luck, and die bravely!"

I fixed my goggles one more time, flattening myself to Jak's back, glaring at Erol. "Ready?" Praxis asked. "Get set!"Jak set his shoulders, fixing his grip on the bike as the light came down. "Go!" Praxis yelled, and we were off.

Instead of going straight, though, Jak immediately took off through the passageway to the right, that I prayed to Sylence was a short-cut, not a death trap.

Thank Mar, it was. We came barreling out on another side, heading straight into a tunnel entrance. The Tracker Map said we were in first, but not by much.

There was a hole in the middle of the tunnel that Jak didn't notice until I shoved on his right shoulder. He turned the handlebars to the right immediately, glancing down at the hole as he passed by it nodding and pressing the boost.

We were still holding first place in the second lap, but Erol was quickly approaching. They didn't _call _him the best racer for nothing, I guess. We were going to prove that wrong, though.

He passed our Racer for a second, trying to cut us off, but Jak had better tricks up his sleeve. He used another boost, roughly pushing Erol's Zoomer with our, heading straight for the wall, trying to push him into it.

Erol realized what was happening before the plan could pull through, though, and jerked the handlebars to the right, sending his car careening off to the side for a second before he straightened up, giving us a small lead.

I pointed at the approaching short cut that I hadn't noticed last lap, and Jak turned into it, coming out at the other end and swiftly turning again to make it into the passageway just over the crossing line, putting us on our third lap, still in first.

About halfway through the lap, though, we ended up behind Erol because Jak missed the short cut but Erol caught it. It took up almost a whole lap to make it in front again, and I was starting to get worried that he might pass us again.

Erol was violently tail gating our Zoomer as we passed on the fifth lap, both he and Jak going through the short cut. At this point, all the other racers were completely forgotten, about half a lap behind us and Erol.

We only had to stay in first for another lap and then we would win. I leant into it, as if I were driving, trying to will the Zoomer to go faster than its limit.

Jak was neck and neck with Erol as we turned the corner to the last lap, and my whole body was tense, waiting to see if we would win. We _had _to. If we didn't, the whole fate of Haven City could pretty much be promised doom-by-a-stupid-leader-and-an-explosive-stone.

We did end up winning though, Jak using the last of the boost to rocket the Racer forward, careening over the finish line, leaving Erol way behind.

We slowly got off the Zoomer, and I grabbed the Palace access pass, tucking it into my pocket with rest, waving, and blowing sarcastic kisses at the audience, Daxter thanking everyone from the top of my head.

I finger gunned the audience, sticking my tongue out, smirked while holding Jak's hand. I was distracted, though, so I didn't notice the Baron's circle fly down until he started talking, and I froze, willing the blue sparks I could feel rising to the surface away. They went away, but I could feel my hair begin to spike up so much more, becoming much more pronounced.

"Ah, a brave man of the people." He praised, not recognizing either of us from the back. Jak and I both stayed with our backs facing him, smirking in turn. I adopted my most dangerous stance, crossing my arms over my chest and cocking a hip out, hair falling in front of one eye. "And who is this worthy opponent? In my world, good men are either bought or broken." Yeah. We were definitely broken. "So which is it going to be?" He asked jovially, but his voice was dripping fakeness. He was furious that someone had beaten Erol.

Jak and I turned around at the same time, relishing in the look of utter fury on the Baron's face. "Surprise." I said viciously, my voice ringing out through the now silent arena.

"WHAT?!" Asked in a quiet voice, dripping venom and disbelief.

"Just a little closer." Jak leered, waving his hand lazily as we both leant forward. "We need to talk."

"Fools!" The Baron exclaimed, smashing his fist down. "Don't you get it?! It's over, Jak! Maddy, all the heroes died long ago! You can't save anyone." I sneered at him, growling loudly. "Only survival remains... by whatever means! This city is mine! These lives are mine! This war is mine!" I watched out of the corner of my eye as Jak's pupils dilated and he started growling louder than me, his body tensing, already sparking purple. Angry Jak always set me off, and right now, we were a violently blue and purple pair ready to tear something – someone –apart. "And in war..." Praxis simpered, continuing on obliviously. "PEOPLE DIE!" I shuttered, claws snapping out and horns sprouting up, but I willed them away. "Kill them." Praxis ordered simply to the four guards at his sides.

I growled, ready to take on the whole army, ready to die. I felt my still sharp claws cutting into my palms and drawing blood as I leant forward, baring my teeth ferociously, looking for the button to let everything out.

Jak snarled loudly, and I heard the metallic sounds of his claws, but I was distracted by a KG yelling, "Look out!" And pointing off into the distance as a Zoomer barreled down the way, coming straight at us.

It was Erol. "I win, now!" He snapped loudly, pushing the Zoomer to full speed, about to hit us, but Jak squeezed my hand, and I used the residual strength of Eco flowing through my system freely to help Jak launch us off the ground and into the air as high as we could go, jumping straight over the oncoming Zoomer, and landing in a crouch on the other side, watching as Erol drove straight into the Eco supply.

I frowned at the loss of Eco, but smirked my darkest smile when I saw Erol's mask slide to a stop, bumping my left foot.

"Run!" Jak whispered into my ear, letting go of my hand as we both booked it out of the stadium, menacing laughter trailing behind us as we heard the faint echo of Baron Praxis's voice ordering, "After them!"

**A/N: **_Once again, sorry for the shortness, but I promise shit's gunna go down in the next chapter! Review!_

**xMonster**


	32. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31:** Look on the Bright Side…  
><strong>Music:<strong> Kill All Your Friends by My Chemical Romance

'_Cuz we are all a bunch of animals  
>That never paid attention in school<br>so tell me all about your problems  
>I was killing before killing was cool<em>

_You're so cool, you're so cool, so cool  
>Cuz we all wanna part when the funeral ends<br>And we all get together to bury our friends'_

**Mood:** Too hot (Like literally. I think I'm going to turn to dust cuz of this sun.)  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> We're all a bunch of liars

We immediately made our way to the palace, still dodging guards around every corner. I flashed the Palace Security pass into the scanner when we finally made it to the building, and the wide doors swung open, letting us in.

The entrance room was empty with just a Haven flag on the wall and a few monitors over in the corner. There were two doors, but one wouldn't open, so we went to the one that led to an elevator, waiting as it rocketed upwards.

I followed Jak off the platform with caution, walking through another empty room and through a door to the Palace Room that we had seen Praxis and Erol in before. This time, though, it was empty. I branched off to the right, running my finger over a flag, mildly disappointed that we didn't find anything.

Ashelin came skidding out in front of me, pistol aimed towards Jak and a knife at my throat. I rolled my eyes, almost laughing at myself for getting caught the same way twice. Ashelin tightened the knife on my throat at the movement, but, honestly, I wasn't that scared. I knew I could get out of her hold if I wanted to. I jerked my chin up softly at Jak as aimed his gun, telling him to back down. He blinked twice, raising his eyebrows. I cocked my back to my bows. "I shouldn't have trusted you guys," Ashelin growled in an almost betrayed voice, not noticing Jak and my silent communication.

"Back where we started, huh?" Jak asked, sinister amusement shining in his eyes.

I coughed out a laugh. "Literally."

"Don't play with me!" She snapped. "All along you've been trying to undermine our war with the Metal Heads!" No shit. "Whose side are you on?"

"Our own." I said in a deadly voice, jerking my elbow back into her stomach and twisting out of her grip and back flipping to stand next to Jak, not a hair ruffled. Ashelin walked closer, waving her fufn between the two of us. She couldn't _honestly _think that she would get away unharmed, or even get away, against both me _nnd_ Jak.

"Look, Ashelin," I began, pulling both my hands away from my weapons and putting them up in a peaceful gesture. "your father's planning something terrible, and if..." I continued earnestly, but I was cut off.

"My father can destroy the Metal Head armies once and for all!" She yelled, poking the barrel of her gun to my forehead. Jak growled loudly, an animalistic gesture that warned her she had stepped too far over the line. She backed off a tiny bit as Jak began talking. I kept my face blank.

"If he cracks open the Precursor Stone, the explosion will kill all of us! Don't you get it?!" He enunciated the last question by pushing away Ashelin's gun raising both his hands in the air.

"That's right! Not so hard, huh?" Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and walked towards redhead, putting his hands on his hips. "Even I can figure this one out!"

Jak turned to walk away, and I twisted to follow him, but Ashelin aimed her gun again. "Don't move!" She ordered.

I looked at her, my head cocked with interest at the change in her voice. I hadn't expected her to be convinced that easily. She flipped open the pocket communicator, pressing a few buttons before talking into it. "Vin?" She called into the static. "Come in."

"What? What?" Vin's voice shot out loudly and hurriedly. "I've got my hands full here, you know!"

Ashelin rolled her eyes at the communicator, getting to the point quickly. "You know all about the Precursor Stone myth, right?" She asked, raising a disbelieving brow at the three of us.

"Sure, I did my Econecic Energy Doctorate on Precurian Theoretical Physics." Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Jak and Daxter look at each other in confusion, the former shrugging. I smirked at them. "Why?" 

"What would happen if the Precursor Stone were to be say..." She trailed off, continuing with a loudly, harsher voice, "violently cracked open?"

"Great!" Vin said exasperatedly. "As if I didn't have enough to keep me awake at night, you need one more thing to dread!" His voice got higher, the longer he talked. "Thank you very much! If someone actually had the Stone, according to my calculations," Ashelin circled around us, apparently trying to herd us in as Vin trailed off, looking for the right words. "a runaway eco surge from cracking it open would... theoretically... _**DESTROY EVERYTHING**_!" The scientist practically yelled the last sentence, his voice high with panic.

"Everything?" Ashelin asked in a type of shocked disbelief, her eyes widened. I almost couldn't hold off the smug smirk that was threatening my face.

"All things... every single thing..." He finished pointedly. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go throw up! Bye bye..." The communicator clicked off. Ashelin's arm dropped, and she walked away from us, shoulders hunched in defeat.

"Trust me Ashelin." Jak said earnestly, uncrossing his arms and standing up straight. It hit me then how close our defensive stances were.

"We have to stop him." I finished, kind of for effect.

"I'll try to find out more." She finally turned around, eyes flicking between the two of us. "But right now, my father is meeting Krew at a secret Weapons Factory near the Dig." I grimaced. I knew we were going to have to have a run in with Krew eventually, but I really hadn't wanted it to be this soon. "Here." She pulled out another security card, tossing it to me. I snatched it out of the air, flipping it open, eyes scanning it before putting it away with the rest of the passes. "That's my top level security pass. It'll get you into the factory, but it _won't_ get you back out." _Cool_, I thought dryly to myself, _more suicide missions._ "We never had this conversation." She finished, walking away to the main door, which snapped shut, locking behind her, leaving us to have to find our way out.

The only other exit in the room was a venting system that we crawled through and reached the highly guarded outer edge of the palace.

So of course, we had to fight our way through.

The outside was relatively easy, but the KGs decided to swarm us from a distance after Jak and I jumped over the moving turret.

Shots rained down around us, shattering the glass and making me have to duck to avoid getting shot. I hit the ground, shooting from the ground to the KGs on the ledge above us. When there was a break in fire, I got up, not even bothering to brush off the glass bits, sliding behind a pole and shooting.

Once Jak took out the last one we continued on, dodging another sensor turret and knocking out another round of KGs and picking up an ammo box. There was another door that lead back inside that we found after sweeping the perimeter.

I slipped in after Jak, keeping my eye on the sensor turret and we both hugged the wall to get around it. We ended up in the room before the Baron's throne room, but all doors were locked, and we had to get back outside to skim the other side of the building.

There was another vent that led outside, so we crawled through it. It led to an area with Eco pipes stretching across an empty gap that were easy to grind across. On the other side, there was another KG swarm that we took out, and another one across huge gap that I couldn't see how to get across. We couldn't quite reach the shooting guards, so we just had to dodge their shots as Jak and I both stared and tried to figure out a way across.

Daxter suggested grinding along the window, but Jak shot that down, saying it was too risky for getting across the whole way. I suggested tight rope walking, but that was shot down, too, just out of stupidity. It was Jak that pointed to the huge circle chandelier above us, and the pulleys that were holding it up.

I shot at the rope on the right with an arrow, severing the string and watching as the pulley gave, dropping the big circle, stopping only a little below the platform we were on.

Jak smirked at me. "That's less dangerous than window grinding?" Daxter asked, eyeing the circle warily. I grinned at him, getting on my JET board and jumping on the circle, using the jump as a kickstart to send me flying around the circle at a dangerous speed.

I jumped up on the other side, kicking one KG and snapping another's neck, just as Jak got off his JET board and got the other two.

There was another sensor turret the we jumped over, and a few more KGs to knock out before we finally reached the service elevator out.

We stepped into it, and it plummeted down to top speed, the doors flying open to let us out in the first room.

Luckily, the main palace door wasn't locked, so we left and made our way to the Air Train that would take us to the Weapon Factory to find Krew.

xMx

The factory itself wasn't much trouble. Jak and I stepped on the big circular platform that would take us right to the heart of the factory itself, where we would have to fight our way to the back and outside to find Krew.

Of course, it was guarded by lots and lots of KGs, and the first room was filled with them. Jak used his Peace Maker to take all of them out at once, conveniently, and we continued on without any trouble at all.

These missions were getting way too easy. It almost made me miss the missions where the only weapon Jak or I had was our fists and a mind full of anger and a body full of Eco.

The KGs seemed to have created some sort of ball-like mech robot that was periodically dispensed from a hole in the wall. They would roll around, barreling into things until we shot at it enough that it had to stop standing woozily in place, and then collapsing.

One of them had the trigger for the moving conveyor belt, and once it exploded, the running belt switched directions and let us up.

There was a few spinners to hit to change flooring to let us across the acid lake at the bottom, with KGs on all sides, but past those there wasn't much else that was a challenge, just a whole lot more KGs and another set of rolling ball like KGS.

There was a section that got dangerously close to the bubbling acid at the bottom, but we made it over that, too, and past a lot more conveyor belts, and even more KGs to a big door at the back that lead to a platform in the very back of the factory with a huge… _thing _on it. It looked like some sort of bomb, and I eyed it suspiciously, not surprised when Krew flew from the back of the machine.

"I knew you were special when I first met you. Both of you, mmm." Krew greeted, flying around the three of us like we were pray. "and I commend you for making it this far. We've come a long way, 'ey?" He whispered in my ear, and I growled loudly.

"Yeah." I snapped. "I'm getting real teary-eyed." I crossed my arms, cocking out my hips.

"I love weapons." Krew said, almost lovingly, eyes roving over Jak's Morph Guns and all my bows, flicking back to the bomb like thing behind him. "I love how they look... how they feel... even how they smell..." He took a deep breath, flying around the machine.

"I think you need serious help." Jak said, shaking his head slightly as he looked at the fat man incredulously. My mouth pulled up in a half grin, but I schooled my expression back to blank anger soon after.

"My favorite was the impossibly powerful weapon Mar and Sylence built to blast open the Metal Head nest." Krew said, ignoring Jak's comment. "The stupid fools both died before either of them could use it, ahh well." He ran his hand over the metal of the bomb, shaking his head as if he were actually sad, but I saw write through the lies written on his greedy face. "But I have a new favorite. The Piercer Bomb I've just completed." He flew to the top, looking down at the bomb that my half my brain was already focusing on figuring out how to deactivate. "My masterpiece is powerful enough to crack open the Precursor Stone, and release the untold energy inside! As soon as the Baron shows up with the Stone, we'll hide it in the last shipment of eco and deliver it to the Metal Head nest." Daxter made the loony face, rolling his eyes at Krew, who kept talking. "A surprise dessert, 'ey? Hee hee hmmm... " He reached into a moleskin sak at his side, pulling out two attachments. "Just take these weapon upgrades and forget what you saw here.

He threw them at us, and I snatched mine out of the air, attaching it, but not moving.

"Not this time, Krew!" I sneered, not putting my bow away.

"We're _done _being the hired gun." Jak cocked his gun.

"Then it's war, isn't it?" Krew asked, backing away slowly.

A few electrical glob like things sprung out of the ground, and with close look they were… "They're Krew." I gasped in horrified disgust as tens of tiny little fat Krews flew all over the ground trying to shock us.

They were all weak, and kind of slow, and easy to take out with Scatter Weapons. After we took out the first round, Krew flew in front of us, taunting.

I loaded a Peace Maker arrow and shot it and the exact same moment that Jak shot his Peace Maker, creating a deadly explosion that knocked Krew backwards a hundred feet.

As he recovered, he sent out more clones, but this time they moved faster and shocked harder, but got taken out just as easily.

Krew regained himself, and taunted us again. I shot at him again, the arrow skimming him, but Jak's hit, creating a lesser effect than last time, but it was still the same; Krew got knocked back and had to send out more clones.

For a man with infinite weapon knowledge, you'd think he could do better than sending electrical mechs at us, but I guess he couldn't. Our routine continued until we finally knocked Krew to the ground, the Heart of Mar key flying out of his hands and his chair short circuiting and leaving him on the ground, scrambling for the button that was only a few short inches away, but he just _couldn't _grab it.

I laughed cruelly at him, picking up the gem and waving it in front of his face. His arms scrabbled desperately for it but he just couldn't reach. It felt so good to watch someone reduced to practically no power.

"Is it too late to give my notice?" Jak asked darkly.

"Yeah! We quit!" Daxter agreed, jumping on Jak's shoulder.

"The city is already dead!" Krew muttered, breathing harshly. "I've sold you all out." He started laughing loudly before breaking into a coughing fit. Well of course he did. The Underground was prepared for this sort of thing.

"Ahhh, Jak..." Daxter stuttered, staring at the bomb that's timer was steadily clicking to zero. I felt my eyes widen. "I think maybe we should be anywhere else just about _NOW!_"

Jak and I stared at each other, neither of us knowing what to do, and turning back to the bomb.

As I was debating on what to do to get us out of the situation, a Hellkat cruiser pulled up and I felt Jak growl. I agreed. Just what we needed; KGs.

But it turned out it wasn't KGs, "Ashelin," I said in relief, staring as the Zoomer pulled up.

"We're outta here!" She said, jerking her thumb behind her. I followed after Jak, hopping into his lap as Ashelin took off back to the city just as a huge explosion let off behind us.

I stared behind at the now decrepit factory, wondering how much of Krew's fat decorated the place now.

I grimaced at the thought all the way back till when Ashelin dropped us off at the Air Train launch pad in Haven.

"You guys find my father." She said as she pulled the police zoomer to a stop. "I'll take the Heart of Mar to Keira for you." She revved the engine as we got out, pulling off. I vaguely heard her say, "I'm sorry it's come to this." Before she was gone.

I blinked.

**A/N: **_Sorry for the super short missions! I didn't have the means to watch them be done to describe them, so this whole chapter is pretty much dialogue and memory! I hope it doesn't bother you guys!_

**xMonster**


	33. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32:** SIG!  
><strong>Music:<strong> Jersey by Mayday Parade

'_I'll have you know I'm scared to death  
>That everything that you had said to me was just<br>A lie until you left  
>Now I'm hoping just a little bit stronger<br>Hold me up just a little bit longer  
>I'll be fine, I swear<em>

**Mood:** Sorrowful :C  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents

After we were dropped off my Ashelin, Jak, Daxter and I made our way to Krew's saloon. Both Katie and Tess were there, and both looked equally as nervous.

"Hey guys," Tess greeted, patting Daxter's head affectionatley. "Whatever Krew put in that machine, he looked really nervous." I looked at the machine with narrowed eyes.

"I bet a months supply of Eco that that's where the Time Map is," I muttered in Jak's ear, standing on my tip toes to reach.

He looked at it, nodding.

"Whatever it is," Daxter said, shoving his way between Jak and my legs. "Krew won't be needing it anymore." He grinned widely. "He's, shall we say, not all together these day." I felt half my mouth pull up in a grin.

Before he could continue, Katie interrupted, twisting a strand of hair through her fingers and gnawing on her lip worriedly. "Krew sent Sig on one last mission to the Underport _hours _before he left." She said, and I frowned. Krew knew it was possible he wasn't coming back. "He said it was the last mission Sig needed to do. Something about unlocking a secret door with Mar's ruby key?" She finished, voice rising at the end of the sentence like it was a question.

"Of course!" I growled loudly. "Jak, that's a suicide mission. We gotta get out of here!" I looked at him imploringly

"But what about the machine?" Tess asked, eyes flicking to said machine.

I cast around for an answer. "Okay…" I said drawing it out and finding a plan. Simple. "You guys stay here and figure _this _out," I gestured to the machine with wide hand movements. "And I'll head to the Underport and find Sig and we meet up here later." I finished, kissing Jak's lips and heading out the door before I could think about what I just proposed.

There was a suspicious amount of guards in the city, so I had to lay low and not walk on the side walk, so I JET boarded across the water until I reached the big structure in the middle of the Port, and stepped through the door, being plummeted to the ground by the elevator that I hadn't been suspecting.

The Titan Suit was sitting on a weight platform in the middle of the room, so I stepped off the elevator onto the grate that was acting as the flooring, and surveyed the plate, poking it gingerly with my foot.

Nothing happened, and I got into the suit anyway, knowing whatever was going to happen was completely inevitable.

Once situated, I finally noticed the water level that had been just below the grate steadily rising until it reached the top of the room, and I stood there in panic for a second, watching the breath meter move down, thinking I shouldn't have done this alone, before kicking myself into action and walking through the open door to my left.

Inside the room was what looked like a Water Mine, and a glowing blue jet of light shooting to the ceiling. There were air bubbles escaping the pillar of light, so I stepped into it, watching as my oxygen tank refilled. I took a deep breath in relief, but stopped when I saw how fast that made the oxygen level go down.

I stepped through the pillar again and vowed to take shallow breaths.

The only other door in the room was blocked my metal bars, but they were easy to break open with the Mech's strength. There was a big, breakable looking platform on the ground, so I smashed it, and fell down to the level below it. There was a Water Mine in this room, and I accidentally triggered it. It didn't do much damage, but I still avoided them in the future, heading through the next door after breaking the metal guard.

The next water logged room was what seemed to be the main room, and it was filled with a whole lot of Water Mines – well four,- and at least three Squid-Heads. The Metal Heads used their long tentacles to grab the Mech suit and zap it. I could feel the electricity all the way in the suit, so it couldn't be very good for the suit itself, so I tried to avoid them, rather than fight.

The Squid-Heads seemed to ignore me if I didn't get to close, so I skirted around them, heading towards another water jet, and avoiding more mines.

From the main room I went through the first door I saw; it was protected by a Squid-Head and two Water Mines, but I managed to make it around all of them and step down the stairs into the new area.

I headed straight for the water jet in the back of the room, at first, but once my oxygen was refilled, I took the time to survey the room.

There wasn't much in it, no door but the one that I came through and a few chained down platforms that were straining to get to the top. Looking up, I realized I could see lighting fixtures above me, blurry by the water, which meant that there was air and that's where I had to go.

The solution was simple; I broke the chains holding the floating platforms down, and watched the rest of the chain extend as they all floated to the top. There was a small water elevator in the back of the room, so I got on it and it began to rise, reaching the top and breaking the surface to the air.

On the surface of the water, I could see that the floats created a sort of path across, leading me to the other side. I debated on getting out, but declined that thought, knowing I would probably need the suit later. So I used the Titan Suit to boost myself across as quickly as possible because the floats couldn't take much weight and would start tipping to one side or the other with too much.

I sighed when I saw the water on the other side, moving the suit around to see if there was any other way to go, and when I couldn't find any, I took a deep breath and jumped back down into the water.

Once submerged, I saw the door was blocked off, so I broke it and stepped through, my eyes automatically searching out a water jet.

There was one across a thin bridge that the suit barely fit on and was inhabited by Squid-Heads. I boosted across it, pushing my way through the wall of Metal Heads and into the water jet before barreling through the door and fast as I could push the Titan Suit to go to lose the pursuit of the Metal Heads and into the air.

Through the next door was another big main room with lots of Metal Heads floating around. There was a glowing air pillar through one of the doors, so I made a beeline for it, passing through and onto the water elevator that lifted me up to about half the height of the water. I jumped onto the ledge I could see and into another room with more Squid-Heads.

One of them almost shocked me, and I was so preoccupied with getting away from it that I didn't even notice passing into a new room until the door shut behind me and the water began to drain away.

I got out of the suit, jumping around a little bit and stretching to get used to the whole walking thing again before heading to the locked door.

It sensed my presence, or something, and opened, gears turning loudly, revealing a brightly lit corridor.

I rounded the corner and almost fell into the gap at my feet that I hadn't noticed. I was too busy looked across it to where I saw Sig, looking thankfully unharmed and shooting stray Metal Heads.

I rolled across the gap, standing next to Sig, who hadn't noticed me yet, too busy scanning ahead of him for more Metal Heads. "Hey there, tough guy." I greeted, waving. Sig turned immediatley and shot at me, thinking I was a Metal Head, causing me to have to drop to the ground in a crouch.

"Cherry!" He said acknowledgement before turning back to the Metal Heads approaching and shooting at them. "Where's blondie and the chili pepper?" He didn't even pause to let me answer. "Get your skinny ass over here and start shooting!" He ordered, and I backed towards him so we were standing shoulder to shoulder, or rather should to head, and pulled out my Blast bow, shooting at the approaching Metal Heads.

"Man, was I set up!" He exclaimed, and I nodded while letting an arrow fly to let him know I was listening. "Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that Ruby Key you found, and when I did, Metal Heads came streaming in from some passage outside the city walls..." I glanced at him over my shoulder, eyes wide. "Just like they were waiting for me!" He turned back to the scene in front of us, firing. "There's one!" A Metal Head fell from an air vent.

"Krew's dead." I said blatantly, shooting off another arrow.

"Yeah? Well he's lucky!" Sig said hotly. "Because he would not want me to catch him alive!" I smirked.

"Precursors!" I wondered. "The Metal Heads must have promised Krew plenty for him to betray the whole city like this!"

Sig fired again, nodding before saying, "Let's get out of here!" And walking off.

I followed after him, catching up as he stopped at a room with two blocks in the middle. "If I can't shoot it, it's someone else's problem." Sig said, pointing to the blocks. "You do something about them."

I jumped down into the lowered room, punching at a block. I rolled forward, and I grinned, thinking about the Mountain Temple and Jak and I having to make our way across an Eco lake without JET boards.

I smacked the box twice more, setting it into one of the square locks. I punched the other box, setting it into the other lock, and it triggered the door, causing it to open.

I headed around the corner, but paused to wait when I heard Sig ask, "Did you hear that?"

I cocked my head to the side, listening intently. I did hear something, actually; a scrabbling sort of sound and the sound of something hitting something else, hard.

Just as I opened my mouth to ask Sig about it, the wall behind us burst open, revealing a large and growling Metalpede. The thing was huge, and I pulled out my bow hesitantly, looking for a chink in its armour. I couldn't really find one.

"Shootin' this one is only going to make him mad." Sig said, pulling at my arm. "_RUN!_"

He let go of my arm and we both sprinted down the hall to the broken up flooring ahead. I followed close behind Sig, jumping on platforms and crumbled floors literally seconds behind him.

"Move your butt!" I heard him yell at me when I started to lag behind a little at the moving platforms. It wasn't my fault I had short legs, or that he was six and a half feet tall.

I pushed, myself harder, though, jumping over the lasers and chasing Sig down a bridge, only a little behind him. The Metalpede was really close behind me, and really heavy, so when it got on the bridge, it collapsed with me on it. I pushed off as hard as I could, vaulting over, but falling short of the firm ground where Sig was standing.

I let out a small sound, think that that was it. Death by Metalpede. But Sig grabbed my wrist just before I fell, and pulled my back up. I took a deep breath on solid ground, and nodded at Sig, who continued on.

"I think that's the last we'll see of him." Sig said. I sure hoped so.

There was another locked door ahead of us and more bomb cube locks. I pushed them around and made Sig shoot at one to get it moving from where I couldn't without going over the edge, and got them both in the locks before they blew up.

The door slid open, revealing another room with more bomb blocks. I went to them, my mind already mapping out the path to fit them in the lock as Sig talked. "Get these done so we can go home." I hopped down into the lower level room, already moving the ticking blocks around. "I'll cover your butt while you figure this out." I heard the sounds of Sig's gun shooting, so I figured I should get this done fast before Sig became Metal Meat.

I got the keys into the locks, and the door opened, so I made my way back over to Sig, helping him take out the last of the Metal Heads before we both continued on into the new corridor.

There was a faint scratching sound again, and I turned to the wall behind me and Sig, tensed to run. He seemed to have to same idea, pulling me away just as the monster broke through again, looking angrier than ever.

"Great! Here comes that bad boy again! _MOVE!_" Sig exclaimed, and I couldn't agree more.

We both ran away, and I made sure to stay so close that I could touch Sig's back this time as we both ran away from the Metalpede. The only time I was behind was when there was the shoot-to-flip platforms and I had to wait.

Over those, there were grates that Sig shot through, taking us down two levels, both of us running into a room with the exit door, hopefull away from the Metal Head.

"Let's go! We're almost to the elevator!" I yelled to Sig, waving my hand as he made his way across the bridge. I took a deep breath, putting my hands on my knees to try to draw in more air.

"Looks like we finally lost 'em, cherry! Piece of cake, huh?" Sig asked, stopping to catch his breath in the middle of the bridge. I wanted to warn him how unstable the bridge looked, but I couldn't quite get the breath to talk, so I figured it would be safe. "Now you're a _real_ Wastelander!" He complemented when I finally stood up straight. "I say it's time we take this fight to the Metal Head leader himself! What a trophy he'd make! We find a way to juice up that 'ol gun of Mar and Sylence and _boom baby_," I smirked darkly. Sounded like a good plan. Now we just had to get back to Jak. "We storm the nest, weapons blazing! Hell! We'll take 'em all on, together! You me and Blondie! Nothing'll stop us cuz we're-" Before he could finish the Metalpede broke through from the ceiling, crashing down on the bridge, taking itself and Sig with it.

I heard his shout as the he and Metal Head went tumbling down to the pits below and I stared in horror.

"_**SIG!**_" I yelled after him frantically, leaning over the pit to see if I could hear or see him, but there was nothing. I blinked, shock kicking in, sinking down to the ground, still staring over the pit, desperately searching to see something, but nothing.

Sig was dead.

**A/N: **_Poor Sig :( it's okay, though, he comes back!_

_Has it occurred to anyone that this story will be over in about 3 chapters? 5 tops? I only just realized that…_

_Rezzkat: I know I know. I always have grammar and spelling mistakes but I'm too lazy to go back and fix them -.- I always write these chapters at ass-o-clock in the morning, so I'm tired and don't feel like going back and reading it through again, so I just post it the second I'm done writing. One day I'm going to go back and edit through this whole story for mistakes, and the first one too! One day…_

**xMonster**


	34. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33:** Deepest Nightmares…  
><strong>Music:<strong> God Hates Us by Avenged Sevenfold

'_Nothing to heal, no one to wreck  
>Feel sad or roll now, there is nothing to tell<br>Nothing drawn, no on to face  
>You'll find out sooner that it's just best if we know our place<em>

**Mood:** Sad :C  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents…

"The shield wall is down!" Vin's panicked voice told me over the communicator as I was waiting for the elevator to take me back to the Port. "I repeat, the shield wall is down!" I felt my eyes widen. How did it crash? "Sabotaged! Kor did it!"  
>"Wait, Vin! What-" I tried to interrupt, but he kept talking, his voice frantic and an unexplainable shuffling in the background was creating a lot of feedback, making it harder to hear.<p>

"I knew that Metal Heads would be the end of me... oh no!" The transmission shorted for a second and I stared at the comm, waiting for Vin to talk again. "Metal Heads at the door! Help! Aaaarrgh!" I heard his loud yell and then the scuffling got louder, filling the small elevator room before the transmitter shut off, leaving me staring at it.

I didn't have time to think about Vin's transmission, because just then, the elevator doors opened and I was almost mauled by a Metal Head. I kicked it into the water of the Port, pulling my bow out and already having an arrow aimed, but another Metal Head came at me from the side so I shot at it, leaving the one in the water to float.

The whole city was in _mayhem. _I couldn't believe that _that _was Haven. There were KGs zapping Metal Heads and Metal Heads attacking anything that moved, pedestrians in terror, and me.

I sprinted back to the Hip Hog, forgetting about all worries about Sig and Vin and focusing on the matter at hand;_ find Jak._

I made it to the doors of the saloon, taking out quite a few more Metal Heads that were prowling the streets. "Fucken _Metal Heads _in the _city!_" I yelled, bursting through the saloon doors, getting everyone's attention.

There were varying degrees of "_What?!"_ throughout the room, but I threw myself at Jak, hugging him fiercely, ignoring them. Katie and Tess went to the door to check, and Tess almost got stung by a scorpion Metal Head, so they slammed the doors shut, staring out the windows at the city with disbelieving eyes.

"Where's the big guy?" Daxter asked from Jak's shoulder, looking around like I might be hiding him.

I tensed up, letting my head fall forward on Jak's chest. "Sig's dead." I mumbled quietly, and I felt the room go silent. "Metalpede."

Tess squeaked quietly, clamping a hand over her mouth, and I felt Jak exhale a long breath, but that was the only reaction I got.

"He said…" I started, getting my composure back along with everyone else in the room. "Jak, he said that we should storm the Metal Head nest. Use the Precursor Stone to activate the gun and just _go for it._" I said, staring up at him.

Jak nodded, gripping my hand tighter but extracting himself from me as his thinking face took over his features. We all stood in silence, Daxter twirling a small precursor artifact in his hands, spinning it in the air before I snatched it out of his hands so he wouldn't break it.

Jak nodded again, decisively, grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door. Once we were outside, we grabbed a Zoomer so we wouldn't have to deal with the Metal Heads, and I listened as he described his plan as to where the gun and the nest was.

Before he and I could put the plan in action, Keira contacted us on the comm, telling us to meet her in front of the race garage and to bring the artifacts.

"The Rift Rider's finished!" Keira greeted. "But if my father's right, and the Ring is somewhere in the Metal Head nest, how are we going to get the Rift Rider to use it?" She flicked her eyes frustratedly to the Rift Rider.

Suddenly, Brutter popped out from behind the machine, pointing at the sky. "_Look!_" He exclaimed happily. "Brutter just knew friends would help if Metal Headers attacked!" We all looked to the sky to see a Lurker Balloon descending towards us. I grinned at Brutter and Jak patted the Lurkers shoulder.

"Brutter, you're the man!" Daxter said from our feet.

"Lurker balloons are finest lifters in the world," Brutter said grandly. "but they is easy target."

"Right. You guys get the Rift Rider to the nest." Jak ordered, pointing to Keira, Brutter and the two Samos's. "We'll stay and defend your take-off and get away." He gestured to himself, me and Daxter.

"Once again, being your friend _sucks_!" Daxter pouted, crossing his arms and turning away. "I wanna go on the balloon!" He wined, looking up at it longingly.

"You keep stadium safe while we prep balloon for lift away." Brutter said, nodding before gasping dramatically. "Uh-oh! Here they come! Metal Headers!" He pointed to the incoming creatures, and I grabbed my bow, spreading my legs slightly and standing shoulder to shoulder with Jak to protect them until they started moving.

Turns out, it wasn't that long until the two Sages had the balloon in the air, moving it in a green bubble of sagely power.

We followed close to them, Jak in the front and me in the back, attacking Metal Heads as they came in from all sides.

Whenever a Metal Head slipped by one of us and got to the Sages, it would attack and send whichever one it attacked sprawling to the ground, stopping all progress until either Jak or I could detanch ourselves enough from the attackers to get them. We had to be relatively quick, though, because Metal Heads didn't just give up after attacking, they kept going.

It proved to be slow goings, sending arrows flying while still watching the Sages for signs that they were hurt or about to be attacked, and trying to keep an eye on Jak at the same time. Every time one of the Samos's was attacked, we started going slower, and that made all five of us easier to attack.

I thanked Mar that we were almost at the balloon as I knocked the arch of my bow into a Metal Head's skull when it got too close to me, sending it to the ground.

We finally made it to the end of the courtyard, and the two started lifting the Rift Rider higher to position it on the balloon, Keira and Brutter finishing preps on the balloon before getting it ready for lift off.

"Up! Up! And away!" Brutter called from the balloon as it began to rapidly lift away.

Daxter sighed woefully, watching them fly away with sad eyes. "Must be nice floating away while we _die _down here!" The otzel looked at me and Jak reproachfully.

"We'll meet near the nest!" Keira yelled down, waving. "See you soon, Jak! Be careful!"

"Yeah, Jak, be careful!" I mocked, grinning as we turned away. He just stuck his tongue out at me.

Before we got any further, we got another transmission. "Kor... Construction Site..." Vin mumbled in a weak voice, sounding strained before the comm shut off. Jak and Daxter stared in confusion, and I remembered I hadn't told them about the transmission I had received earlier, so I told them.

"Do you…" Daxter asked. "Do you think he's going to be okay?"

I shook my head minutely in response. The otzel's shoulders drooped as we made our way to the construction site.

xMx

There were no challenges to get to the Site itself. We only had to find the door in the back of the city and make our way through. When we did, we both ran down the stairs to where Praxis and a few guards were standing.

Just as we reached the bottom, Kor jumped down in between us and the guards, confusing everyone in the yard.

"Kor?" Jak asked, skidding to a stop, me behind him. "What's going on?"

"I'm sure you know..." Kor responded scornfully, getting up with an agility I had never seen before. I growled at him quietly, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck, giving me a bad feeling. "Deep down in your darkest nightmares." He snarled the last word, walking towards us rapidly as Jak and I backed away just as quickly, his face morphing into a twisted look, teeth lengthening into barred fangs, snapping at us, and eyes shrinking and glaring darkly before his face turned back to normal and faced the guards. I stared, my mouth hanging open in shock.

"We've met before, remember?" He hissed back at us, looking again. My mind flashed to Sandover and the Metal Head leader coming out of it, declaring the last Warp Gate as open and flooding the world with his evil spawn. Everything clicked. "Everything's going exactly as planned." He sneered at the guards, laughing mockingly as his back sprouted wings, flapping and making the rest of us look tiny. A tail grew out, along with long clawed arms, and Kor's face morphed again as he snarled so loudly I wanted to cover my ears and faced the sky, exuding a bright blue light and bursting into a _huge _Metal Head. The Metal Head leader, with all sorts of limbs and wings and teeth.

"It's the Metal Head leader!" Daxter yelled as, as if we hadn't noticed.

"Now you see!" The Metal Head leader said contemptuously, looking down at all of us. "Without the shield wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I am my full potential now! So for the last time, _give me the Precursor Stone!" _He yelled, his voice morphing into something darker and more powerful, filling the whole area and leaving echos.

"If the city must die, then we all die! AAAGGGHHH!" Praxis exclaimed, he and the guards bravely charging for the leader. Said leader only looked at them in disgust before sending out a large blast that blew his opponents across the Site. The Guards scattered around, but Praxis crashed into a wall or Eco barrels and wooden scaffolding that collapsed on top of him, probably crushing him. I couldn't find it in me to be satisfied.

"I will find that Stone if I have to crush this city one brick at a time!: Kor proclaimed in that hollow, terrifying voice before flying away from the scene.

Jak and I rushed over to where the guards were scattered, and Jak lifted the big piece of wood that was crushing Praxis. I couldn't help but feel sympathetic for my greatest enemy, or what I _thought _was my greatest enemy, started speaking weakly, bracing himself on the ground, staring at it rather than us. "You are the supreme weapon, both of you. And I made you." He rolled onto his back, clenching his stomach with one arm and holding out a remote with a big red button with the other. "Still," the Baron went on. "any leader worth his salt always has his backup plan..." He pressed the button, causing an exact replica of the Piercer Bomb to rise from the ground slowly as the leader's head dropped. "Remember, the first rule in making a bomb... is to always make two!" He closed his eyes, seizing up for a second before falling motionless.

Jak and I both faced Praxis for a moment, and I felt conflicted, but we both turned away, deciding the bomb took more precedence.

We both stared at Daxter when we reached the bomb. "Oooooh, okay!" He exclaimed painstakingly. "I'm going in!" He climbed up the bomb and dove in, babbling relentlessly the whole time.  
>Man, what a mess a junk in here! All jumbled coils and switches! Should I unhook the blue wire? Wait a minute! Are ottsels color blind!? Let me just break a few more things and see if anything pops loose..." Before he could say anything else, the Precursor Stone popped out, Daxter following close behind, grabbing it and running down to us. "BOOM!" He laughed. "Gotcha! Like candy from a baby!"<p>

As we left, we passed Praxis's lifeless body, all of us staring for a split second before continuing on deeper into the Construction Site.

**A/N: **_Hi! Well, this is almost it! After this there's going to be two, maybe three chapters and then I'm done till the third :C_

_So sad!_

**xMonster**


	35. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34:** That's Not Possibly Me.  
><strong>Music:<strong> Mr. Highway's Thinking About the End

'_It's like speaking in tongues for all you know.  
>Will we ever get what we deserve?<br>How long until the tables turn?  
>Will we ever get what we deserve?<em>_: lyrics/a/a_day_to_remember/mr_highways_thinking_about_the_ ]__  
>I've created a monster.<br>I got a side of me that no one should see.  
>So quit stalling, pack your bags, keep walking away.<br>Your life leads to destruction.'_

**Mood:** kinda sad but excited!  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

Jak and I made our way to the Air Train that would take us to the Metal Head Nest. It didn't take us directly too it, but just to the top of the path.

I could see the rise to the nest in the distance, so that's where we headed first, battling Metal Heads up long twisting paths. Most of the Metal Heads we encountered along the way were normal ones -scorpions, grunts, jumpers and stingers – but down the path and around a few bends and past a few bends we encountered at least four Flying Spiders. They were easy to take out, but also tedious with the jumper and stinger Metal Heads attacking from the back.

Behind them was a door that we passed through and killed a few more Metal Heads.

I climbed the steps behind Jak, hopping over the crest in the ground and following down after him and around another corner. There was a small swarm there that we took care of before heading on again, down the path. There wasn't much after that, just more Metal Heads and ammo boxes, and we were almost at the end of the path. I could see a huge metal contraption on the horizon that we were heading towards; Mar and Sylence's gun.

We reached it, Jak holding the Precursor Stone, and stepped up the stairs cautiously to reach the gun. There was an elevator at the bottom that Jak and I both stepped on simultaneously that took us to the top of the gun, where the lock was.

"There isn't much hope now." I heard my back pocket say as I stepped off the lift behind Jak. I pulled the Pocket Communicator out of my pocket and was met with Ashelin's face on the cam. She looked serious. "With the Shield Wall destroyed, it's just a matter of time before the Metal Heads overwhelm us." I tossed to comm to Dax as I walked up to Jak who was looking at the gun with a type of menacing glee. "You all should just go through the rift back to your own timeand get away from this horrible place.

Jak hefted the stone into the slot, and I stuck my palm against it just before he slipped it in the activate the thing. The machine accepted the stone and we both pulled our hands away.

"I see your point." Daxter agreed. "Come on, Jak, Maddy." He waved at us over his should, walking away.

"Hold it, Dax," I said, catching his tail. "We're not leaving _just _yet." I grinned maniacly.

"This place is worth fighting for!" Jak said loudly, resting his palm against the machine. I couldn't agree more.

"We'll hold out as long as we can!" Ashelin said in that, _'Oh well, I tried.' _Voice. "Fare well!"

The comm hung up just as the gun started whirring loudly, loading up and getting ready for the almighty blast. "Precursor Stone." Jak said, resting his knuckles against the now glowing stone. "Gun." He finger gunned towards the nest next to the gun.

"Nest!" I finished darkly, feeling that dark look take over my face.

Jak started laughing menacingly. "Nest." He agreed in an equally as sinister voice.

"Light 'er up, padre!" Daxter jumped on Jak's shoulder, leaning forward to watch the damage, his voice as dark as ours. I should have been worried, but I couldn't be bothered to be. Too much anticipation for what was going to happen.

Jak let out another baleful laugh, "Eat this," He growled just as the gun shot off. I craned my neck standing on my tippy toes watching with an unabashed glee as a piercing green beam of energy shot over to a wall, drilling a path directly through to the centre of the nest.

I felt my face pull into a twisted smile as Daxter said, "That ought to wake 'em up!" Almost hesitantly.

"Let's go take care of business!" Jak snarled with a grin, leaning forward in anticipation.

"What? You mean, go in there?" The otzel asked disbelievingly before correcting himself. "Ahh, I'm right behind you!"

"Straight to the heart of the nest," I bit out malevolently, following directly next to Jak as Daxter hid behind the two of us.

We all headed down the path toward the big hole that would take us to the nest, killing even more Metal Heads.

There were a lot of ammo and health boxes around, so I tried to collect as much as I could while we still had the chance. A little bit down the path was where we encountered the first Elephant Grunt that was flanked by a whole lot of little Metal Heads. The thing reminded me of the Metalpede in size, but definitely not in shape. I looked a bit like the Ramheads from the Mountain Temple, only ten times bigger.

Neither of our weapons did anything to penetrate it's thick armour, so we had to settle for skirting around it dangerously when there was space on the thin paths.

We couldn't get close to it because it had proximity defenses that would shoot out huge bolts of electricity to anything that surrounded it.

We passed three of them on the way to the nest, all surrounded by other Metal Heads. Most of the ones around it were Flying Spiders and Jumpers. The Spiders were a bit harder to take care of, but we did it relatively mess up free, making our way up the path to whatever met us up there.

There were a lot more Metal Heads at the end of the path, and a whole lot of Metal Head eggs on the ground around our feet, which was how I knew we were reaching the end.

We had to break through a small door and walk up a small hill until we were finally approaching the mouth of the cave. There were rocks littering the ground around the opening and more Metal Heads swarming around us that we easily took out.

Inside the cave was a deep purple colour and had a very musty smell about it. There were a whole lot more eggs on the ground, all creating a big circle around an area in the centre, set in little clusters around some sort of purple plant.

When we made it through the short tunnel passageway, we were immediately swarmed with an army of Jumpers and Stingers, all of which had been hiding under the dirt. Jak took a majority of them out with his Vulcan Rifle, and I used one of my precious Peace Maker arrows to clear out the rest, following close behind Jak as we made our way to the very centre of the nest; a huge glowing hole in the ground with some sort of purple tree growing out and around it and what looked like a huge Rift Ring open next to him.

Kor in Metal Head form rose out of middle of the hole, his wings curling around the front of his body and hiding it, his multiple arms holding him up like a big spider.

"Finally, you've decided to join us, have you?" Kor asked gleefully, "and you brought the Precursor Stone!" I curled my fingers tighter around the stone. "Good. Both the children will now play their _final_ part." I didn't like the way he said final. It took me a second to register what he had said. _He _had taken the kids.

The Metal Head's wings unfolded from the middle of his body, revealing two more hands in the middle, on separate sides of his body, both holding black energy spheres. The one on the right, directly in front of me, held the little boy curled up in on himself tightly, unconscious. I felt my body yearn to grab the boy and hide him out of harm's way and do whatever it took to take care of him. I didn't know where this affection was coming from, but it was like my body and mind had a natural instinct to want to protect the boy, even before the girl. I glanced at Jak quickly, to see if I could gauge his feelings, but I saw him staring longingly at the left sphere where the other kid was sitting, her face tucked in her knees. I could see him leaning in that direction and I didn't even think he knew he was doing it.

I turned back to Kor before I could ponder it more.

"Not this time." Jak snapped out of wherever he had been when Kor growled loudly.

"Oh, but this children are such a part of this!" Kor drawled slowly, moving the kids closer to us, teasing. I leant forward and snarled as he continued talking. "Such a part of you, both of you! Don't you recognize them?" He slowly switched the hands that were holding the kids, moving them both even closer to us so the little girl's sleeping face was directly in front of mine. "The boy is you, Jak!" Kor hissed, and I froze, shaking my head to make sure I heard him right as Kor looked at me. "And the girl. The girl is you, precious Maddy." He sneered, and I froze, staring at the little girl. Her hair. Her eyes. That's why everything was so familiar. "And this place... this is where you both began, in the future! Separated, only to meet again in such a tragic way."

"But how...?" Jak asked quietly. I was still staring at Kor, my hand knotted in my hair, tugging painfully to get myself to remember. I couldn't remember any of this. This _didn't _happen. It _couldn't _have. I searched through my memories. And what did he mean Jak and I had been separated? We had been together for…" I couldn't even place a time. The earliest memory I could remember was when I was 16, traveling to Misty Island with Jak and Daxter. That was seven years ago. Why couldn't I remember _anything_ before that?

"You were hidden in the past on the hope that you would gain the skills to face me today. You two were separated, so that you wouldn't get attached to one another, depend on each other." He laughed menacingly. "But Onin was wrong! Now that you've been altered with Eco, neither of you can open the stone now."Your younger selves, however, still have the pure gift! Together, the two of them will fully awaken the Stone and the Precursor entity that sleeps inside."

"Wait." I interrupted, staring at the Stone. "This Stone is a Precursor?"

"The last Precursor egg!" Kor growled, staring at the thing in my hands. "Mar and Sylence were both very clever. They covered their track well, hiding their last egg from me." Mar and Sylence had _eggs_? Interesting relationship. "and building the shield and city to defend it! It has been a long siege. But today, I will finally feed on the last Precursor Life Force!" He went through all this trouble for a meal?!

"Ah, I think you're forgetting one little thing, Metalo-Maniac!" Daxter stated incredulous. "_We've_ got the Precursor Stone!

"Not for long!" Kor jeered, charging the skull gem on his head with a bright white light, shooting it at the cliff under it, making it collapse on top of us, making me almost drop the Stone.

That was the least of my worries right now, though, because something in that light had made me so angry I wanted to explode. Which I did. In my Dark Form, at least.

I instantaneously changed in my Dark Form, exuding a small blue explosion that blew the rubble away from me as I burst out of the rubble, charging at Kor only subconsciously aware of Jak next to me, doing to same.

"_DIE!_" Kor yelled just as we reached him in a shower of blue and purple sparks.

**A/N: **_I was going to have the battle in this chapter, but it would make the next chapter too short._

_Also, I'm almost positive that the next chapter is the next one. Tears :'C_

_I can almost guarantee you guys there's going to be a third installment of this story, I just don't know when I'm going to be able to get it out. I don't want to start it and leave it hanging like I did this story. _

_School starts in a few days (3 to be exact) And I'm going to be swamped with all the back to school stuff, so if I'm going to estimate when I'll start a new story it'll be in the late fall, early winter when everything starts calming down and I have more time, but keep an eye out for any new updates cuz I might find some way to get it out before that._

_I love you all, and I'll see you for the last chapter tomorrow!_

_Cheers!_

**xMonster**


	36. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35:** Our Happily Ever After… Or Not.  
><strong>Music:<strong> To the End by My Chemical Romance (I'm sorry I had to end on a MCR song)

'_(And say goodbye) to the last parade  
>(And walk away) from the choice you made<br>(And say goodnight) to the heart you break  
>And all the cyanide you drank<em>

_To the last parade  
>When the parties fade<br>And the choice you made  
><em>_**To the End**__'_

**Mood:** Extremely volatile and emotional  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Writers lie, just like your parents.

"**DIE!"** Kor yelled just as we reached him in a shower of blue and purple sparks.

I sliced at Kor with my claws, scoring a long, sparking line of Blue Eco down one of the vines that was holding him to the ceiling. One snapped, and MetalKor dropped down a little bit. Jak managed to get his claws in another one, making him move down a little more.

A bunch of Metal Heads rose out of the pit below him, flying and not, shooting at us with Eco guns. I shot at them with bursts of Yellow Eco from my palm, distracting the Metal Heads while Jak attacked the monster above us. I flipped over the pit, under the Metal Head leader and lead them all away.

I continued slicing and snapping at all of them until the wave was over. When it was, I joined Jak in attacking Kor, taking turns slicing at the vines holding him up while the other distracted him.

He sent out another wave of Metal Heads that Jak went for this time, snarling fiercely. I threw myself at Kor, still pulsating Eco, and used the Blue Eco to zap him. He went still for a second, the Eco holding him in place, and I managed to get my claws in a long stripe against the soft flesh on his face, flipping up and attaching myself to the top of the Metal Head as Kor tried to bat at me, but was unable to reach.

Jak finished off the Metal Heads on the ground in a wave of Eco and ran at Kor, slicing the vines over his head as I attacked the back of his neck with my fangs and claws.

Eventually, I got my fangs in deep enough, just as Jak got hold of one of the last vines. I sent out a burst of Red Eco deep into MetalKor's veins, ripping my claws through the rest of his armour and flipping down as Jak broke the last vine. Kor collapsed, shaking the ground as his huge body dropped. His head hung in defeat over the hole, neck mangled and bleeding, staying on the ground for a second, tail flicking angrily, before he sprouted his wings, and got back up, flying frantically towards the Rift Ring. Before either of us could even attempt to stop him, the Metal Head leader was frozen in place and zapped with a white-blue lightning.

He exploded in place, both the kids bursting out of the bubble and waking up as Kor's head slid towards us, a feral growl still on its face.

Instead of being scared of the head like I had expected, the kids simultaneously reached forward and touched the Stone that was on the ground in front of them. It automatically lit up, sending them both falling backwards in surprise as a ghostly blue-white figure flew out of the stone, reaching its arms out in a vaguely cross-like shape.

"Oh man. A Precursor." Jak said in awe as the Precursor started talking. I could barely look at it, not being able to look directly at its face because of the brightness.

"It is finished..." It exclaimed in the Oracle's voice. "Our ancient enemy is no more. Take hope brave ones!" The Precursor started to emit a glowing white substance. "The terrible darkness inside you both is now balanced by a glorious light!" I didn't feel any different…

The little boy walked forward curiously to touch the figure, but the girl grabbed his hand before he could walk off the edge and into the hole in the ground. The Precursor looked at them momentarily before flying into the Rift Ring. "We will meet again..."

Before I could even begin to think about what happened, Keira started talking. I looked up in surprise, not having noticed the Lurker Balloon enter the cave. "We haven't much time. I've set the coordinates back to our village. Let's go home every one." She said excitedly as the balloon touched ground.

"We can't leave!" I protested at the exact same moment that Jak said, "But we are home…"

"Keira, I'm afraid your Rift Rider must be used to send young Jak and Maddy back to a place where they will grow up safe from harm." Old Samos said, looking at his daughter, whose face fell in disappointment. "They both require a safe environment to mature enough to perform the deeds done today."

"Hang on," I interrupted him. "Kor said something about having the kids grow up in alternate universes." I looked at him inquisitively as I helped the little girl up –little me – onto the raft as she struggled to get on with her short arms and legs.

"Ahh yes," the Older Samos said, looking between me and Jak sadly. "Onin has warned us of the fate destined to be if the two grew up with such a familiarity." He gestured between us and the kids. "It would have doomed us to a destiny worse than now." I frowned, looking at the little girl was still clinging to my finger.

"Wait a minute!" The younger Samos said in realization. "It's you! I mean... it's me! I have to guide them both back don't I," He asked, "get them to safety." He looked to his older self, who nodded. "Ah, grub roots! Talk about being in the wrong time at the right place!"

I carded my hand through the little girl's brown curly hair, wondering how I hadn't noticed the resemblance between the two of us and pulling her onto my lap as I sat cross legged on the raft, trying to keep the armour out of the way as we both watched Jak and… mini Jak. "Hey kid... you take care." He said in a soft voice before getting more animated. "Oh... and trust me on this..." He crouched down so they were the same height. "Stay away from any wumpbee nests on your ninth birthday, okay?" The kid nodded rapidly as Jak lifted the kid onto the seats.

I looked at the girl who was twirling my hair through her tiny hands. "Hey," I grinned down at her, remembering. "Be safe, and don't run away from him when you get scared." I jerked by head to the side towards the two time twins looking at us from the ship. I lifted her up and set her next to younger Jak as she nodded, looking up at me with a smile. It was strange… I hadn't seen a smile that soft on my face in years… She grabbed my hand as I pulled away, pulling Sylence's necklace off her neck and slipping it over my head. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, stepping back down to the platform. Jak hooked his arm around my waist, using his other hand to connect Mar's half of the necklace to Sylence's. I smiled up at him.

"I sure hope I built this replica right. I don't know if it..." I heard Keira worry when I started listening to the conversation again.

Her father interrupted her. "It's perfect, Keira. This is the very machine we found... or will find later." He patted the bumper.

"What? I just built this." She asked, astounded. "After seeing the first one, I mean. It's based on what I remember from..."

"Honey," Daxter cut her off, "the more you think about it, the more it hurts the head!"

The ship started up, hovering in place for a second before slowly flying towards the entrance of the ring. "I'll take good care of the child!" Samos's younger time twin said. "And don't worry... I'll be back in time for the celebration! Fare well!" I watched as the ship shot into the Ring, all three people on it waving.

"Thanks Samos." Jak said sincerely as the two of us walked back to Samos, our fingers twined together tightly. "Without you..." Jak trailed off.

"It's funny..." Samos said as we all watched the ring shut off and collapse to the ground. "Neither of them will remember any of this." I saddened at the thought, thinking back to huge blank spot that blocked off all my memories from before my time with Jak. I had no idea where they were going or what was in store for her.

"No... I do remember the light!" Jak said, watching the ring as the Lurker balloon lifted off, flying us back to the city. I squeezed his hand tighter.

"Welcome to the Naughty Ottsel! The hippest, happenest, happiest joint in town!" Daxter greeted everyone in the saloon. Of course he had had the time to organize a huge party already. I rolled my eyes at him looking around the room. Almost was everyone we had met in Haven was there. Of course, there was me and Jak, attached at the hip leaning against the counter, Jak scratching the Croco-Dog's head, Daxter and Tess, both lying on the counter, Torn with Katie on his back, Ashelin, leaning near the door, watching with a small smile, Keira and Samos, talking next to us, and even Onin and Pecker, the former drinking heavily. I couldn't help but feel a hollow ache in my chest for the people missing… both the little kids, Sig, Vin.

"Check out the new decor!" Daxter said extravagantly, pointing to MetalKor's head, which now resided on a plaque above the bar next to an ostentatious picture of Daxter and some sort of sword.

"Oooh... What a big trophy!" Tess cooed, impressed. I rolled my eyes at her.

"As if size matters." Daxter said nonchalantly. "I bagged that bad boy myself, baby!" If I wasn't so content I probably would have smacked him.

"Onin says she doesn't know who has a bigger head." Pecker interpreted for the drunk woman. "Him or you!" He gestured between Kor's head and Daxter, who didn't even look offended.

"We must not forget Vin and all the others who sacrificed their lives to defeat this evil and protect the children." Samos lifted his cup.

I looked down at the symbol that would permanently reside around my neck. Jak grabbed it, hooking it with his to make the full symbol. "I still can't believe…" I trailed off.

"That those kids are us?" Jak asked, finishing the sentence. I nodded. "Better times, huh?" He rolled his eyes self depreciatingly.

"Better times…" I agreed depressingly before trying to brighten the room which had suddenly got quiet. "They grow up to be _quite _impressive people." I half smirked. "Very hot, too." I leaned in to kiss Jak, who was looking at me intensely with his dark eyes.

"Hey!" Daxter unknowingly interrupted looked at the very drunk Onin. "That's enough for you, lady. I'm cuttin' ya off!" He tried to lean forward to take the bottle, but she zapped him with a blue light before he could get close enough, sending him skidding backwards to where Pecker was sitting.

"Trust me," The monkey-bird squawked. "She gets real mean when she's like this!"

"What'd she say?" Daxter asked curiously, having one of the most civil conversations I had ever heard him have with Pecker. Maybe they could finally get along.

"Something about rubber tubing and certain parts of your mother..." Pecker shook his head slightly, blinking at the old woman. "You don't wanna know..." I smiled at them, opening my mouth to say something, but was cut off by the door opening.

A large, dark figure entered the door and the whole room tensed.

"Agghhh! A Metal Head!" Daxter yelling in fear, diving behind the counter. I almost shot at it, but I got a look at the face on the figure before I could even get my bow in front of me.

"_SIG!_" I practically shrieked, throwing myself out of Jak's arms and at Sig.

"SIG!" Daxter and Jak chorused happily, making their way over to where Sig and I were standing.

I punched his arm as hard as I could, knowing it wouldn't hurt him. "That's for letting me think you were dead!"

"You're okay!" Jak said in a happy relief.

"You cherries didn't think some nasty breath, giant sized lizard was gonna keep me from the biggest party in town did ya?!" Sig asked as he Jak and I made our way back to the bar.

"I knew you were too tough for 'em, big guy!" Daxter said from where he was standing at the bar, gesturing grandly.

xMx

"Quick!" Ashelin said from where she was sitting next to me a while later, peeking out the window with a smile. "They're starting!"

Everyone headed outside where we stood and watched as fireworks shot up over the Port lighting up the water with their brilliant colours.

"You saved the city and more, you two!" Samos said, making his way to where Jak and I were standing with the Croco-dog; it seemed to have taken a liking to the both of us, and the feelings were mutual. "Metal Kor and his menace are history, and somewhere out there, an ancient race has begun again." I thought of the Precursor that flew through the Ring and wondered where he had ended up landing.

"I'm just glad to be back home." Jak said reverently, pushing his face into my hair, breathing deeply. I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah? Well, rest up." Samos ordered and I blinked at him. "We've got a lot to do and so much time to do it in!" He gestured to the sky with wide arms.

"_Don't_ say time!" I interrupted. "The Rift Ring was destroyed, remember?"

"You know," Sig said as he walked up, patting Daxter's head. "my momma used to read bedtime stories about Mar and Sylence when she'd tuck me in…" He trailed off nostalgically. "She'd give me a nice glass of warm yakow milk... and my little Poopsy bear."

I bit my lip, trying to hold back my laughter. "Bedtime stories? Warm milk? Poopsy bear?!" Daxter asked in an unabashed glee. "Buddy, ya just blew ya image!" I saw Pecker and the Croco-dog giggle silently.

"I've got a feeling we'll meet them both someday." Samos said wisely. "They may be closer than you think." He looked at me and Jak, trying to convey something with his eyes, but I didn't get what he was saying, and neither did Jak.

"And you're the designated driver!" Sig said, putting the Ruby Key to the city in Jak's hand.

"Oh no," I said, plucking the key out of Jak's hand and tucking it away in my backpack. "I think we're done with adventures."

"Yeah," Jak agreed. "Besides, you'll tell us before something happens next time, right Samos?" We both looked at the old man, who looked up at the two of us with an innocent look.

"_Right, Samos?_" I asked imploring, narrowing my eyes at him when he still didn't respond.

Pecker squawked. "You never know what the future may hold." I turned my glare on him, not liking the way he said that.

"Wait..." Daxter drug the word out. "you know something, don't ya feather breath?" He leant forward on Jak's shoulder, crouching on all fours, clutching Jak's shoulder armour.

"Who? Me?" The bird asked innocently, babbling. "Ah... no... We're just, ah... guessing, right Samos? Today... tomorrow... Only time will tell!" He tried to finish mysteriously, but only succeeded in looking more flustered.

"No! You're gonna tell... RIGHT NOW! Aggghhh!" He pounced on Pecker, trying to get the information out.

"AAGGHH! Why you little... AAARRR..." The bird squawked again, hitting back, and soon all of us were watching as the two rolled off, leaving a mass of orange fur and feathers behind to the wind.

They both babbled nonsensically as they battled until Sig grabbed both of them by their tails, holding them out on separate sides of himself looking between the two of them with amusement.

"The future awaits!" Samos alluded subtly, holding his staff out to the sky.

I ignored it, because, well, I was happy to stay there with Jak forever, watching the sky as everyone else went inside.

That wish was not granted though, as two yellow Palace KGs, two red Guard KGs and four KG's in blue suits approached us after everyone else cleared away. "Halt!" One of the blue guards ordered, and Jak and I both looked at them warily. They had us surrounded. "By order of the Council of Haven City, you are both hereby under arrest for heinous acts and crimes against the city." Before I could react, the guards hooked a stuncuff around my wrist, hooking the other half the Jak, paralyzing the both of us to free will as we were lead to the Palace Prison to await our trials.

You have _got _to be _kidding _me.

~_To be continued…~  
><em>-

**A/N: **_Am I incredibly cruel for leaving it there? And yes, I know the battle with Metal!Kor is completely inaccurate and incredibly short, but I really didn't feel like writing it all. I do what I want ;)_

_Incredibly sad ending music: The End by the Doors_

'_**This is the end  
>Beautiful friend<br>This is the end  
>My only friend, the end<br>Of our elaborate plans, the end  
>Of everything that stands, the end<br>No safety or surprise, the end'**_

_Well, it's the end! It's been a fun ride and I'm looking forward to all your feed back on the story itself, please feel free to leave it, even if it's been years since this has been updated, I will still love to read it all!_

_I'm going to miss all of you so much, and I'm so emotional right now because I picked a really bad time of the month to end this, so I'm practically in tears right now because I'm going to miss this story so much, even though I know I still have at least another installment to write… Strange, I know._

_I honestly want to start writing the next part in the series __**right this very moment**__, but I know I can't. I have school and I have to go to bed and it's just so sad that tomorrow night I wont be writing the next chapter because I'll actually have to go to bed early for school the next day (High School's a bitch!) and wow this literally ended on the last day of summer, so this is like a totally sentiment for me… like a sign of the ending of my freedom, of the loss of my time and non-conforminity. The loss of the fact that I can stay up till eight in the morning and wake up at 7 at night, and it's just really sad. I don't get to look forward to all your guys' reviews and favourites, and I can't check the views to watch it skyrocket up every single day (honestly, guys, last night's chapter got 602 views. In a little less than 24 hours. You guys are __**so **__amazing) and start planning the next night's chapter._

_I'm going to leave you guys now -before I start actually crying- with the hope that I'll hear from you all really soon._

_Seriously, though, feel free to keep messaging me like a lot of you do, I will always find time to answer your questions and listen to what you think about this story, or the first one, or even ideas for the next one! Actually, I'm begging you guys to; while I'm gone keep reviewing and talking to me so I don't get so sad about not being able to write. Give me ideas so I have an outline by the time I can finally start writing again, or just drop by to say hi! Anything!_

_Okay now I'm actually going to leave. Bye guys! Hope to see you soon!_

_Until next time…_

_Yours truly, _

_Maddy Rigby _

**xMonster**


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